According to a statement released on Friday, the Gambia’s government is “far advanced” in investigating options for future legal action against Indian pharmaceutical company Maiden Pharmaceuticals and a local distributor over deadly cough syrups that are thought to have killed scores of kids.
Last year, acute renal damage claimed the lives of at least 70 children in the Gambia, the majority of whom were under 5 years old. The deaths, according to a government task group that looked into them, were “a direct result” of tainted Indian-imported cough and cold medicines.
The task force discovered that the drugs in question were not registered with the MCA, as is required by law, according to a statement from the government. The Gambia has sacked the executive director and deputy head of its drugs Control Agency (MCA) and reported the situation to police.
Gambia’s justice minister had earlier told the media that the tiny West African nation has engaged a US law firm to investigate legal options.
The Indian government claims that tests it conducted on the pills revealed they were not tainted, and the pharmaceutical Maiden Pharmaceuticals has denied any wrongdoing. The medications’ regional distributor, Atlantic Pharmaceuticals, was unreachable.
Twenty of the children’s families have already filed lawsuits against the two businesses and the Gambian government.
“The government is currently benefiting from legal advice from a top tier international law firm,” Gambia’s government said in a statement, adding it is also pursuing potential redress through engagement with the Government of India.
The statement added that the health ministry has hired a firm that is reviewing all the health-related legislation in the Gambia.
The announcement also mentioned that the Gambia’s health ministry had hired a company to analyse all of the country’s health-related laws.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported last year that cough syrups prepared in India contained the deadly poisons ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, which are frequently found in products not suitable for human consumption like brake fluid.
The World Bank is assisting the Gambia in the construction of a laboratory, according to a statement made there. “There is an urgent need for a quality control laboratory to conduct proper testing on all medicines and related products imported into the country,” the statement stated.
