Noting an unexplained increase since August in cases of acute kidney failure, the Indonesian authorities announced on Wednesday, October 19, the suspension of all sales and prescriptions of medical syrups. Around 100 young children have died of acute kidney failure this year in the Southeast Asian country.
Cough syrups made in India by the Maiden Pharmaceuticals laboratory have also recently been implicated in the deaths of around seventy children in The Gambia, also from acute kidney failure.
“So far we have received reports of 206 cases from 20 provinces and 99 deaths,” Indonesian health ministry spokesman Syahril Mansyur told reporters. “As a precaution, the ministry has requested that healthcare professionals not temporarily prescribe liquid medication or syrup (…) and asked pharmacies to suspend the sale of syrups (…) until the investigation is completed”continued Mr. Mansyur.
Cases that have been increasing for several months
Cases of the rare condition have jumped since August, he said, when they were only one or two a month previously in the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an alert in October and recommended the withdrawal of four cough and cold syrups produced by the Indian laboratory Maiden Pharmaceuticals and which “might have a connection” with deaths recorded in The Gambia.
The Indonesian health security agency, however, clarified that syrups imported into The Gambia were not sold in Indonesia. The majority of acute kidney failure cases reported in Indonesia are in children, most under the age of 5, the ministry said. The WHO office in Jakarta did not immediately respond to press inquiries.