A Gambian parliamentary committee recommended on Tuesday that an Indian pharmaceutical business be banned and investigated for the acute renal failure deaths of at least 70 children after taking a cough syrup.
“The government should pursue legal action against Maiden Pharmaceuticals for exporting contaminated drugs to The Gambia,” the select committee, set up in October, said in its report.
The MCA should “blacklist Maiden Pharmaceuticals products and ban all of their products in the Gambian market,” according to a recommendation made on Tuesday by a legislative committee in the nation of Ghana.
According to the committee, scientific research is still being done to determine what caused the deaths of youngsters who had acute renal damage.
Nevertheless, it said it was convinced that “Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is culpable and should be held accountable for exporting the contaminated medicines that was linked to the death of at least 70 children in The Gambia 2022.”
All cough and cold medications sold in Gambia as well as all medications created by Maiden Pharmaceuticals, whose manufacturing facility in India has been closed, have already been recalled.
Last month, the Gambian health officials issued a first recall for all medications containing promethazine syrup or paracetamol.
Naresh Goyal, the director of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, reportedly denied that the cough syrups made by his business were to blame for the deaths.
According to the UN health agency, the drugs in question were found to contain “unacceptable” amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which are commonly used as antifreeze and can be fatal if ingested.
Additionally, the legislative investigation suggested that the deceased families be given compensation.
In October, the World Health Organisation issued a warning over four cough and cold syrups produced by the northern Indian company Maiden Pharmaceuticals.
According to the WHO, laboratory tests revealed unsafe concentrations of potentially fatal pollutants, and it’s possible that the products were sold outside of Gambia, a country in West Africa.