Rajasthan Health Minister Says Cough Syrup Linked To Deaths Of 3 Children 'Not Faulty'

Rajasthan Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar reiterated that the cough syrup allegedly linked to the deaths of three children in the state was not faulty, saying two rounds of testing found the medicine to be safe.

“We got the medicine checked twice. First our drug controller tested it and then the Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation Limited (RMSCL) tested it. Both test reports did not find it faulty,” Gajendra Singh Khimsar said.

He said the children who died were suffering from comorbidities and had been administered the cough syrup by their parents without a doctor’s prescription.

“If we give children the medicine prescribed for adults, it will obviously have harmful effects. A two-year-old child cannot take it,” he said.

In a later statement,

the minister clarified that preliminary investigations did not confirm that the medicine- Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide (DXM HBr)- had been prescribed or administered by a doctor in any of the three cases.

Gajendra Singh Khimsar also said that the manufacturer Kaysons Pharma had been given a clean chit only after the medicine cleared both tests. When asked about the government’s decision to ban 19 medicines produced by Kaysons Pharma, the minister said the move was taken as a precautionary measure.

He added that a second committee has been constituted to re-examine all of the company’s medicines and that the government is open to independent testing if concerns persist.

“Around 1.33 lakh people have taken the medicine so far, including 14,000 in the past month. This medicine was prescribed at primary health centres, community health centres, and district hospitals, and no other deaths linked to it have been reported,” Gajendra Singh Khimsar said.