Indonesian health authorities announced on Wednesday that they will be looking into the deaths of more than 20 children in Jakarta. They believe that acute kidney injury caused the deaths.
Authorities in Gambia have reported that close to 70 children have died from acute kidney injury after ingesting a paracetamol syrup distributed locally.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will work with Indonesia to investigate four products manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals of New Delhi. This was after they found “unacceptable” amounts of potentially hazardous substances: diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol.
In a statement, Indonesia’s drug regulator warned that they disapproved of the syrups for sale in the country.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Mohammad Syahril, told Reuters that 131 cases of acute kidney injury detect across the country since January, based on the data from the country’s pediatric association (IDA). They still compile the death toll estimates at the national level, he said.
Syahril further clarified that the Gambia cases are unrelated to the Indonesia ones.
Moreover, the Jakarta health agency revealed that 31 cases were reported in January. 68% of them have ended in death.
The health ministry said it is talking to WHO experts who are looking into the case in Gambia. It has also put together a team with IDAI and a hospital in Jakarta to look into the situation.
Early results from the health ministry point to intoxication as a possible cause of the illness. But no one knows for sure yet. The minister said that there was a need for more research.
In addition to that, On Wednesday, Indian officials said they had found 12 violations of good practices at a Maiden factory. Therefore, it stopped making cough syrups there.
Source: The Economic Times, Japan Times