The authorities in the small West African nation of Gambia have not yet acknowledged the allegations that poisonous cough syrup was to blame for the deaths of seventy youngsters there. The World Health Organization (WHO), which raised the matter, was alerted to the deaths that might have been caused by the four cough syrups created in India. As a result, the Indian government and the Haryana government banned Maiden Pharmaceuticals, the company that makes the cough syrups..
The children died from acute renal injury, according to the Medicine Control Agency of Gambia, which announced on Monday that there has been no confirmation that the cough syrup produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals was the cause of their deaths.
The Gambian government announced last month that it was looking into the situation and has appointed a new committee of inquiry to address the dilemma.
Tijan Jallow, an officer at the country's Medicines Control Agency, was quoted by Reuters as saying that the agency has not yet determined the precise cause of the deaths.
"We haven't concluded yet it is the medicine that caused it. A good number of kids died without taking any medications," Jallow told a news conference.
"Other kids died, the medication that they took, we have tested them and they are good," Reuters quoted Jallow.
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