99 children in Indonesia died of kidney failure due to cough medicine
WHO representatives in The Gambia are being consulted on the matter since the African country reported the same death cause in more than 60 children earlier.
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Children in Indonesia (Thai PBS)
A rapid rise in acute kidney injury (AKI) has led a team of experts to investigate as a Health Ministry official said on Wednesday that close to 100 children in Indonesia have died from it this year.
Health Ministry Spokesperson Mohammad Syahril said on Wednesday that Indonesian authorities confirmed 206 cases of AKI with 99 fatalities the day before.
"As a preventive measure, the ministry has asked all health workers in all health facilities to temporarily stop prescribing or providing any liquid or syrup medication until our research and investigation is completed," he disclosed at a news conference, adding that 65% of cases had been treated in the capital, Jakarta.
Hospitals were demanded in a Health Ministry letter dated October 18, according to Reuters, to gather all medications that families had given to their children admitted with AKI for toxicology tests to be conducted and further analyzed. The letter also stated that chemists requested the halt of the sale of syrup-based medicine until further notice.
This comes following an investigation already taking place in The Gambia to look into the death of children from AKI that was connected to paracetamol syrups for treating fever, which contained excessive and deadly levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol.
The deaths of 66 children in The Gambia may be linked to four cough and cold syrups made by Maiden Pharmaceuticals in India, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) alert, which also warned that contaminated medications may have been sent and distributed outside the African nation - leading to fears of possible global exposure.
Indonesia's food and drug agency released a statement that such products were not available locally and the ingredients stated above are now banned from child medicinal syrups sold in Indonesia.
The country hired an expert team constituting of local health, pediatrics, and World Health Organization (WHO) representatives to investigate the spike among children, as the WHO experts for the cases in The Gambia were simultaneously being consulted for more information.
The Ministry has purchased specialist medicines for AKI to address the spike, Syahril said.
