Banned in Kerala! Cough syrup death toll rises to 14 in country; Madhya Pradesh doctor arrested

BHOPAL: A doctor from Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, was arrested in connection with the tragic death of 11 children after consuming toxic cough syrup. Praveen Soni, a paediatrician who prescribed Coldrif syrup to the children, was arrested this morning. Praveen, a doctor at a government hospital, was also running a private clinic where most children in the locality sought treatment.

The Madhya Pradesh government filed a case against Srisan Pharmaceuticals, a company based in the Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu, which manufactures Coldrif cough syrup. The government had earlier banned the sale of Coldrif after sample testing revealed that the medicine contained 48.6 per cent diethylene glycol, a highly toxic substance. The Tamil Nadu Drug Control Directorate declared the syrup, which was tested at a drug testing laboratory in Chennai, to be of substandard quality.

As a precautionary measure, authorities have banned the sale of Coldrif and another cough syrup, 'Nextro-DS'. The test report for Coldrif was received on Saturday. The report for Nextro-DS is yet to be received. So far, 14 children have died after consuming Coldrif syrup across the country. 'Coldrif' is also banned in Kerala and Telangana. Veena George informed that the action was taken following reports from outside Kerala that a problem was found in the SR13 batch of Coldrif syrup. This syrup should not be sold or given by drug stores or hospitals in the state.