"Gambia Finds Indian Cough Syrups Caused 70 Infant Deaths"

A government taskforce in The Gambia announced Friday that four cough syrups imported from India were responsible for the deaths of at least 70 children from kidney failure last year. Health Minister Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh told a press conference that there were failings in regulatory and import checks of the medication, beginning with the products not being registered with the West African country’s Medical Control Agency (MCA). The head of the MCA has been dismissed, he said, while also pointing blame at the supervising pharmacist who authorised the drugs’ import without sufficient background checks.

Beginning in September last year, The Gambia ordered a recall of several cough and cold medications, as well as all products manufactured by the Indian laboratory Maiden Pharmaceuticals from which the adulterated syrups originated, after the deaths of at least 70 infants.