Contaminated cough syrup scandal linked to 68 child deaths as medical officials jailed

A generic picture of a child being given cough syrup (ALAMY)

A total of 23 people have been sentenced to prison over the deaths of 68 children linked to contaminated cough syrups produced by India’s Marion Biotech.

The news comes following a six-month-long trial in Uzbekistan.

The Central Asian nation had previously reported 65 deaths linked to the medicines, but last month the prosecutors at the Tashkent city court updated the death toll and said two more people had been charged during the hearings.

The defendants, including one Indian national, faced jail terms ranging from two to 20 years.

They were found guilty of tax evasion, sale of substandard or counterfeit medicines, abuse of office, negligence, forgery, and bribery.

Singh Raghvendra Pratar, an executive director of Quramax Medical, a company that sold medicines produced by India’s Marion Biotech in Uzbekistan, was handed the longest, a 20-year - prison term.

In January 2023 The World Health Organization warned against the use of two Indian cough syrups for children that have been linked to deaths in Uzbekistan

Former senior officials who were in charge of licensing imported medicines were also sentenced to lengthy terms.

The court decided that compensation amounting to $80,000 (1 billion Uzbek sums) would be paid to each of the families of 68 children who died from consumption of the syrup, as well as to four other children who became disabled.

Parents of eight other children affected by the drug will get from $16,000 to $40,000. The compensation money will be collected from seven of the convicts, the court’s decision said, according to the Supreme Court statement.

In January 2023 The World Health Organization warned against the use of two Indian cough syrups for children that have been linked to deaths in Uzbekistan.

In the alert WHO said that an analysis of the two cough syrups - Ambronol and Dok-1 Max - by the quality control laboratories of Uzbekistan’s health ministry found unacceptable amounts of two contaminants.

These were diethylene glycol and/or ethylene glycol. Both are toxic to humans and could be fatal if consumed.

“Both of these products may have marketing authorizations in other countries in the region. They may also have been distributed, through informal markets, to other countries or regions,” the WHO said.

It added that “the substandard products” were “unsafe and their use, especially in children, may result in serious injury