Cough syrups flagged by WHO not sent to Rajasthan: Government

JAIPUR: Reacting sharply on WHO alert on substandard (contaminated) paediatric medicines supplied from Haryana to Gambia of Africa, state’s drug controller talked to Haryana’s counterparts to find out if the same drugs have also been sold in the state.
Health department’s drug controller -I Ajay Phatak said, “We have talked to our counterparts in Haryana who have clarified that the drugs were prepared for exports only and they were not supplied for domestic use. Since no supply of drugs by the said company has been made, there was no need to act on it in the state.”
WHO’s alert says, the four products are Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup. The stated manufacturer of these products is Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited (Haryana, India). To date, the stated manufacturer has not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products.
The WHO says, Laboratory analysis of samples of each of the four products confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants. To date, these four products have been identified in The Gambia, but may have been distributed, through informal markets, to other countries or regions.