Inside India’s Cough Syrup Tragedy: A Trail of Negligence and Death

Transcript

00:00Two cough syrups, two states, 12 children dead.

00:03But most of us do not even seem to give a sh**.

00:05In MP, where nine children died, the syrup was called Cold Riff.

00:09In Rajasthan, where three children died, the syrup being distributed under the state's

00:13free medicine scheme was a generic one manufactured by a local firm called Kaysons.

00:18But the story is the same, a trail of negligence that starts in the lab and ends in a child's body.

00:23Let's start at the beginning, the factory floor.

00:25In Tamil Nadu's Kadalur district, a company called Shresan Pharmaceuticals made Cold Riff.

00:30Tests by the Tamil Nadu drug regulator found, after so many children had died,

00:34of course, that a batch of the cough syrup made here contained diphaline glycol or DEG,

00:40a chemical used in brake fluid. Brake fluid is used in cars.

00:45Yes, it's not meant for medicines at all. It's a poison when consumed.

00:48This DEG can contaminate pharmaceutical ingredients like glycerine.

00:51Glycerine is something that is added to cough syrup as a thickening agent.

00:55This glycerine can be replaced by the DEG, sometimes due to carelessness,

00:59sometimes it can be added if the supplier wants to make a quick buck,

01:02because it is far cheaper, obviously, than the glycerine.

01:05Anyone who's doing it is committing murder, if you ask me.

01:08But let's go to Rajasthan now.

01:09Here, a local company called Kaysons Pharma supplied cough syrup under the state's free medicine scheme.

01:14Authorities are still investigating, but the company has a history of 42 failed drug quality tests,

01:20yet it kept winning contracts.

01:22The state, meanwhile, has banned the supply of cough syrups containing dextromethorphan after several

01:27batches they found at Kaysons failed quality tests.

01:30The Rajasthan government then issued guidelines advising physicians to avoid using dextromethorphan

01:35containing syrups for cough in paediatric patients and not to give it to children under 4 years of age.

01:39In MP, when 9 children died, the element under investigation is DEG, like we said.

01:44But here in Rajasthan, many people fear that maybe cough syrup with dextromethorphan in it was wrongly

01:49prescribed to children. These are still early days. There are tons of investigations, tests,

01:53etc. that are going on now. Of course, had all of this been done before the tragedy,

01:57so many children could have been probably saved. Tell us what you think. Please share this video

02:01with your near and dear ones to spread awareness and follow our channel for more no-fluff explainers

02:05like this. I am Manish Adhikari. Thank you for watching First Things First.