7 October 2022 09:03 am
The contaminated cough and cold syrups that triggered widespread controversies and alleged to have claimed over 60 innocent lives in Gambia - all children - were not imported or donated to Sri Lanka, Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said.
Addressing the media he said the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC), and the Medical Supplies Division, have confirmed that the controversial cough syrup was not imported or donated to the country.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had already issued a Medical Product Alert on ‘Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup’, describing that they could be linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children in Gambia in West Africa.
Meanwhile, in another report issued by the WHO warned that those medical products could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in the African nation.
According to the report, the products were manufactured by an Indian company, ‘Maiden Pharmaceuticals’, which has failed to provide guarantee about the safety of their product, the WHO added. (Chaturanga Samarawikrama)