New Delhi: As eight children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have tragically died after consuming contaminated cough syrups, a central team from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has collected samples in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district for a probe. The children, aged between one and seven, reportedly suffered from severe symptoms like kidney infection and anuria.In Madhya Pradesh, six children died in Chhindwara district after taking cough syrups. These children suffered from cold and mild fever initially and later most of them died due to kidney-related complications. Authorities found that two specific cough syrups were common in all the six cases and have restricted their sale and use. Samples of these syrups have been sent for testing.“Till the time test reports of the syrup samples are out, an advisory has been issued to restrain the use, sale and prescription of those syrups. Doctors in the district have also been advised strictly to prescribe only symptom-specific medicines, like prescribing just Paracetamol for fever, instead of prescribing a wide spectrum of medicines, including those for cough and cold,” Chhindwara district collector Sheelendra Singh told The New Indian Express.In Rajasthan, a five-year-old died in Sikar and a two-year-old died in Bharatpur after consuming a generic cough syrup supplied through government health centers. The state government has banned 22 batches of this syrup and stopped supplies from the manufacturer, Kayson Pharma. Over 1.33 lakh bottles of the syrup were distributed since July, and around 8,200 bottles are still in stock at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Hospital.As per a report published in The Time of India, a senior doctor in Rajasthan, in charge of the Bayana community health centre, who drank a cough syrup to reassure anxious parents was later found unconscious in his car.“Our drug inspector has collected samples from Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Bharatpur, and the test reports are expected within three days. The syrup should not be administered to children below five years of age,” drug controller Ajay Phatak told The Hindu.Toxic cough syrups manufactured from India have caused deaths in the past as well. In October 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a global alert for four cough syrups manufactured by Haryana-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals, linking them to 66 deaths in The Gambia, primarily due to acute kidney failure. Similar incidents followed, including the deaths of 18 children in Uzbekistan in December 2022 after consuming cough syrups made by Noida-based Marion Biotech. In August 2023, the WHO issued another alert about a batch of India-made common cold syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which was detected in Iraq.The contamination of cough syrups is often attributed to the use of industrial-grade glycerine or propylene glycol instead of pharmaceutical-grade versions. These industrial-grade variants are cheaper but can contain toxic substances that can cause severe health issues, including kidney failure and death, particularly in children.