Jakarta, Indonesia
CNN
—
Indonesia has halted the sale of all syrup and liquid medicines following the deaths of almost 100 kids and an unexplained spike in circumstances of acute kidney accidents.
The ban, introduced by the nation’s Well being Ministry on Wednesday, will stay till authorities full an investigation into unregistered medical syrups suspected of containing poisonous substances.
Well being Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Syahril stated 99 deaths and 206 circumstances of acute kidney accidents in kids, principally underneath the age of 6, have been being investigated.
“As a precaution, the ministry has requested well being employees in well being services to not prescribe liquid medication or syrup quickly,” he stated. “We additionally ask that drug shops quickly cease all gross sales of non-prescription liquid medication or syrup till our investigations are accomplished.”
The ban comes after the World Well being Group (WHO) linked 4 Indian-made cough syrups to the deaths of as much as 70 kids struggling acute kidney failure in The Gambia, West Africa. Earlier this month Indian authorities shut down a manufacturing unit in New Delhi the place the medicines have been made.
WHO suspects that 4 of the syrups made by Maiden Prescription drugs Restricted – Promethazine oral resolution, Kofexmalin child cough syrup, Makoff child cough syrup and Magrip N chilly syrup – contained “unacceptable quantities” of chemical substances that might harm the brains, lungs, livers and kidneys of those that take them.
The syrups being utilized in The Gambia weren’t out there in Indonesia, in accordance with the Southeast Asian nation’s meals and medicines company.
Nonetheless, on Thursday, Indonesian Well being Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol – that are extra often present in merchandise like antifreeze, paints, plastics and cosmetics – had been detected in syrups discovered within the properties of some youngster sufferers.
“(The chemical substances) shouldn’t have been current,” Budi stated.
He added that the variety of acute kidney failure circumstances may very well be increased than reported and his ministry was taking a conservative strategy by banning the sale of all syrups.
