UZBEKISTAN STARTS TRIAL OVER 65 CHILD DEATHS LINKED TO CONTAMINATED INDIAN COUGH SYRUPS

Fri 11 August 2023:

On Friday, Uzbekistan started a trial over the deaths of 65 children last year that were connected to tainted cough syrups, revealing for the first time a far greater death toll than before, Reuters reported.

Only 20 deaths associated with the medications, which were made by Marion Biotech in India, had previously been reported by the Central Asian country.

18 CHILDREN DIED IN UZBEKISTAN AFTER CONSUMING INDIAN PHARMA’S SYRUP

Among the 21 defendants – who are all Uzbek citizens – are former senior officials who were in charge of licensing imported medicines and executives of a private company that imported and distributed them, Uzbekistan’s Supreme Court said in statement.

Charges against them include tax evasion, sale of substandard or counterfeit medicines, abuse of office, negligence, forgery, and bribery.

Uzbekistan’s Health Ministry had linked the death of children to the cough syrup made by Indian drugmaker Marion Biotech.

According to the ministry, the syrup was contaminated with toxic substances including ethylene glycol, a chemical used in the preparation of antifreeze.

The Uzbek fatalities follow similar ones in The Gambia, where the deaths of at least 70 children have been blamed on cough and cold syrups made by New Delhi-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Both India’s government and the company have denied the medicines were at fault.

GAMBIA COUGH SYRUP SCANDAL: POLICE LAUNCH INQUIRY INTO SYRUP DEATHS

India is known as the “pharmacy of the world”, and its pharmaceutical exports have more than doubled over the past decade to $24.5bn in the past fiscal year.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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