Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh - A five-month-old baby girl died in Chhindwara district shortly after she was given an ayurvedic cough syrup purchased from a local medical store.
The infant, identified as Ruhi Minote from Bichua village, had been suffering from a cold and cough. On October 27, her family bought an ayurvedic cough syrup from a chemist in the area. The baby's condition got worse as time passed by. The parents noticed that she had difficulty in breathing and by early the next morning, she had stopped breathing altogether.
Her devastated parents rushed her to the nearby Community Health Centre, but she was declared dead on arrival by the doctors.
Soon after the death was reported, district officials sealed Kurethe Medical Store, where the syrup was purchased. The remaining bottles of the same syrup were taken to the lab for testing.
The district collector, Harendra Narayan, told Times of India that the chief medical and health officer has been directed to conduct a thorough investigation. Authorities have also called upon the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and related provisions to determine if the syrup followed proper manufacturing standards and labelling guidelines.
Investigators are specifically checking whether the medicine contained unsafe ingredients or contaminants. Samples have been sent for forensic analysis, and results are expected soon.
Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips, a well-known hepatologist who is widely followed on X (formerly Twitter) as @theliverdr mentioned:
"Just because modern medicine cough syrups have quality control issues, it does not automatically mean that alternative medicine options such as Ayurveda are safer. They are not. In fact they may be more harmful, because a) they are wholly unregulated, b) they do not conduct safety studies, c) adulteration and contamination are issues along with, d) toxic herbals that can cause a variety of organ injuries and most importantly, e) there is literally zero evidence that alternative medicine and supplements work for anything, even for a symptom like cough, let alone actual disease."
This is not the first time that the country had to face the death of children due to medical negligence. Earlier this year, more than 20 children reportedly died in the neighboring districts of Betul and Chhindwara after consuming locally manufactured cough syrups.
In several of those cases, industrial-grade ingridients had been found in medicines, raising serious concerns over quality control in regional pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Health authorities had already issued warnings on the sale of cough syrups for infants. Chemists were also instructed not to dispense such medicines without a doctor’s prescription, especially for children under one year old.
Ruhi’s father, Sandeep Minote, expressed grief and anger over the loss. He said he gave the syrup as instructed by the shopkeeper, assuming it was safe. He added that at the health centre, no doctor was available initially to attend to his daughter.
The family has filed a formal complaint with the local police station, asking for action against the medical store and anyone else responsible for the sale of unsafe medicine.
(Rh/ARC/MSM)
