Karnataka on alert, urges parents to be cautious while giving any cough syrup

Hassan (Karnataka), Oct 6 (PTI) Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Monday said an alert has been sounded in the state following reports of child deaths linked to consumption of certain cough syrups in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has also instructed the health department to look into the issue.

The CM was responding to questions from reporters in Koppal over the child deaths.

Urging parents to be cautious while giving any syrup to children below the age of five, the health minister clarified that the "substandard" cough syrup linked to the deaths of children in other states have not been supplied in Karnataka. Hence, no such incident has occurred here, he said.

"We have already instructed officials to check whether any of these products were sold in Karnataka and so far as per our knowledge none of this has come to the state," Rao told reporters here.

According to him, as a precautionary measure, samples of all brands of cough syrup are being collected and tested. The state's drug control department has already taken preventive steps and remains vigilant.

Karnataka is among the leading states in the country in conducting such drug quality tests, he said.

The minister has also instructed officials to issue guidelines on the use of cough syrups.

Rao said the deaths in other states were due to the "negligence" of certain drug manufacturing units.

He urged parents to be extremely cautious while administering any syrup to children below the age of five and advised to minimize the use of cough syrup.

The minister emphasised that the Centre must enact stringent laws to curb drug adulteration and establish mechanisms to ensure seamless information sharing between states.

"I had earlier written to the Central government regarding adulteration of medicines, fake drugs, and the need for stricter monitoring. I had also urged the Union Health Minister to create a dedicated website for the swift exchange of information nationwide whenever any case of drug adulteration is detected," Rao added.

In a circular dated October 5, the Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) said that in view of recent incidents where deaths have been reported in Madhya Pradesh following the consumption of Coldrif Syrup (Batch No. SR-13), manufactured by a Tamil Nadu-based pharma unit, the Tamil Nadu Drugs Control Department has prohibited the purchase, sale and consumption of the said batch in that state.

Further, a few deaths of children have been reported in Rajasthan due to the consumption of Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide Syrup IP, manufactured by Kaysons Pharma, Jaipur, it stated. PTI AMP KH