The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning targeting four Indian-manufactured cough syrups, suggesting that they "have been potentially linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children" in Gambia.
Manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceutical Limited in Haryana state's Sonepat district, the four cough syrups include Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup.
"Laboratory analysis of samples of each of the four products confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants," the WHO alert said.
"Toxic effects can include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state, and acute kidney injury which may eventually lead to death," WHO alert said.
A source told The Times of India that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization immediately took up the matter with the Haryana state regulatory authority.
However, the "exact one-to-one causal relation of death" has not yet been provided by the WHO, it added.