Syrup from India caused mass child deaths in Gambia, confirms panel of experts

News Network
May 24, 2023

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Tainted syrup medicine imported from India was the cause of an outbreak of kidney failure that killed more than 60 children in the West African nation of Gambia last year, according to a report by a team of international experts.

The report, submitted to the Gambian health ministry earlier this year and not yet made public, is the most definitive statement yet on the cause of the episode. It contradicts the official position of Indian authorities, who insist that the country’s products weren’t to blame. A director for the Gambian ministry of health didn’t respond to calls and an emailed request for comment.

Although the committee was able to establish that a child drank the contaminated medicine from an Indian drugmaker, Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd., in only 22 deaths from so-called acute kidney injury, or AKI, it said that symptoms in 30 others were consistent with the poison’s effects and no other cause could be found. It lacked enough information on 13 more cases. 

“The outbreak of AKI in children in the Gambia is attributable to medicines contaminated with DEG/EG,” the committee concluded, referring to the two contaminants, diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol.

Last year’s outbreak sparked concerns about the quality of generic medicine from India, an export powerhouse that calls itself the “pharmacy of the world.” Those concerns intensified this year when exported syrups from two other Indian manufacturers were found to be tainted in the same way, leading in one case to about 20 deaths in Uzbekistan.

“We have made our stand clear that as per our testing, the product had no issue,” said Rajeev Raghuvanshi, the Indian drug controller general, in a text message to Bloomberg. He referred further questions to the health ministry, which didn’t respond to requests for comment. A representative of Maiden also didn’t respond to inquiries.

India’s central government this week imposed a new regulation requiring cough syrup to be tested by a government lab before it can be exported.

Products from Maiden, a small New Delhi firm, fell under suspicion in Gambia last September, when health officials investigating the outbreak arranged tests of several drugs given to children prior to their deaths. Three labs in three different countries would eventually confirm the presence of the contaminants in Maiden products, the committee said in its report. 

The World Health Organization issued a public alert in October and Gambia recalled the drugs.

“After the poisonous medicines were withdrawn, there were no further cases,” said Kalle Hoppu, one of the committee members, in an email to Bloomberg. He called that “a very definitive sign that this outbreak was caused by these medicines.” Hoppu is a former director of the Poison Information Center at Helsinki University Hospital in Finland.

Indian authorities have defended the drugs. In December, the Indian drug controller general at the time, V.G. Somani, told the WHO that his organization’s own tests of Maiden drugs found no contamination. He went on to accuse the agency of acting on flimsy evidence and having “adversely impacted the image of Indian pharmaceutical products across the globe.” As recently as March, the Indian government said in a statement that the drugs weren’t tainted and didn’t kill anyone. 

Earlier reports by a Gambian parliamentary committee and by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both pointed to the Maiden drugs as the most plausible explanation for the outbreak. But the report by the 11-member expert committee was the first charged specifically with establishing the cause. 

The panel was set up by Gambia’s health ministry and consisted of five clinicians from local hospitals, two WHO officials, and four consultants from Senegal, Finland, and the UK. It was chaired by Abdou Niang, a nephrologist and professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal. Members met for a week in December, and Hoppu said the report was submitted to the health ministry sometime around February. It’s unclear why the report has not been made public.

At the time the committee convened in December, Gambian authorities had logged 70 deaths of children suffering from AKI. Of those, the committee couldn’t get detailed information on 13, and it concluded that one death wasn’t consistent with AKI. That left 56 deaths that it examined in detail. The children in this group were about two years old on average, the committee report said.

In only four of the 56 cases did the committee find a possible alternative or contributing cause, such as Covid-19 or severe malaria. That left the 22 it tied to consumption of Maiden drugs, and 30 others where consumption of the drugs wasn’t established but the symptoms were consistent with exposure to the contaminants and no alternative cause was found. The report noted that parents can’t always recall the brand of medications they give their children. 

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News Network
May 22,2023

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Bengaluru, May 22: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday demanded the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in the state to prove with evidence that there was 40 per cent commission during the previous BJP rule.

The saffron party leader also urged the government to investigate alleged scams or irregularities that took place during the previous BJP and Congress governments, and let the truth come out. "I want to clearly say -- let them probe. They have alleged 40 per cent commission, they have to prove it with evidence now. I demand that the Congress, being in the government, to give us all the proof and show there was a 40 per cent commission," Bommai said in a response to a question on the Congress government reportedly planning to probe the alleged scams during BJP rule.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "the Contractors' Association had alleged 40 per cent, I want to tell its President Kempanna --they (Congress) may claim that there is no 40 per cent commission with Congress in power -- so here on in all the projects contractors' will have quote 40 per cent less in the tenders. If they continue to quote the same tender amount as earlier, it means that 40 per cent has continued."

"So Kempanna has a huge responsibility, the Contractors' Association should tell all its contractors to quote 40 per cent less in their tender," he added.

During the previous BJP regime, the state Contractors' Association under its President Kepanna had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging 40 per cent commission charge against public representatives and officials for public works, which the Congress, then in the opposition, had used it as a major weapon against the then ruling party, during the campaign for the Assembly polls.

To a question as to whether the Contractors' Association would release documents at least now, Bommai said, "Let them, Kempanna has not done it so far, also they have not given it to courts, but have indulged in false campaigning (against BJP). Congress benefitted from it, so let them do it at least now."

Regarding claims that the Police Sub-inspector (PSI) recruitment scam will be probed, he said, "Let them investigate everything. We have given the Lokayukta and CID -- cases regarding the scams which took place during their (previous Congress) tenure...let what happened during both their and our (BJP) tenures be probed, and let the truth come out."

The former Chief Minister also expressed pain over the death caused due to rain on Sunday and said the Met department had given warning about rains, but it is clear the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has not taken any measures.

"I urge the Chief Minister, we have created SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) in Bengaluru, immediately press them into service at the vulnerable spots and take measures at places which are bottleneck, as there are predictions of more rains in the days to come. Also measures should be taken regarding tree falls to avoid any disaster or inconvenience to people," he added.

A 23-year old woman died on Sunday after the vehicle she was travelling in got submerged in a flooded K R Circle underpass, following thunderstorm and heavy rains in the city. 

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News Network
May 24,2023

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Portuguese soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo believes the Saudi Pro League he joined this season could in time become one of the top five leagues in the world.

The Portugal skipper joined Al-Nassr in January on a contract estimated by some media reports to be worth more than €200 million ($220.16 million).

Ronaldo has played in three of the world's top leagues with stints at Real Madrid in Spain's La Liga, Manchester United in the English Premier League and Juventus in Italy's Serie A.

The 38-year-old said the quality of the Saudi competition had improved even in his short time in it.

"We are much better and the Saudi league is getting better and the next year will be even better," he told Saudi SSC channel on Tuesday.

"Step-by-step I think this league will be among the top five leagues in the world but they need time, players and infrastructure.

"But I believe that this country have amazing potential, they have amazing people and the league will be great in my opinion," he added.

The Saudis do not lack ambition and a source told Reuters earlier this month that Riyadh club Al-Hilal had made a formal offer to secure the services of Lionel Messi, Ronaldo's rival for the title of best player of his generation.

Ronaldo scored a stunning winner on Tuesday as Al-Nassr fought back to beat visitors Al-Shabab 3-2 and put Al-Ittihad's Saudi Pro League title celebrations on hold. 

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News Network
May 24,2023

The High Court of Karnataka has rejected a petition filed by Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) seeking to unseal its properties in Mangaluru which came to be sealed by the authorities following the ban imposed by the Central Government on the organisation Popular Front of India (PFI).

The authorities had sealed nine office premises of SDPI in Mangaluru on September 28, 2022 on the charge of being used for the activities of the PFI, which was banned under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The SDPI had claimed that it was not one of those entities that were declared to be associates of PFI and therefore the very act of the State government in searching and sealing the offices of the SDPI was contrary to law.

The petitioner submitted that it is a political party and has its representation all over India, more particularly, in the Dakshina Kannada district. It was claimed that the political party is in the forefront of empowerment of the deprived sections of the society by divisive forces through its political movement.

A single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that the notifications to seal the premises were issued under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. "Therefore, the petitioner has an alternative remedy which is statutory and necessarily to be availed of, in the peculiar facts of this case, as recording of evidence for the acts of the State is imperative.”

“Merely because all the offices in Mangaluru are sealed and not anywhere else would not mean that evidence would not be required for the petitioner to prove its case in terms of Section 8 of the UAP Act,” said Justice M. Nagaprasanna.

On September 27, 2022, the Central Government declared PFI and its associates or affiliates or Fronts as unlawful associations. It also empowered State Governments and Union territories to exercise powers under Sections 7 (Power to prohibit the use of funds of an unlawful association) and 8 (Power to notify places used for the purpose of an unlawful association) of the Act. Based on the aforesaid notification, several raids took place in the city of Mangaluru. While so doing, certain campuses and places which were being allegedly used by several organisations were sealed and a few such offices of the petitioner/SDPI were also sealed in Mangaluru.

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