New Delhi: Following the alert raised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) over the deaths of children in Gambia due to consuming cough syrups manufactured by an Indian pharma company, the Central government said it has sent the samples of cough syrups for testing by drug regulator Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

The global health body has advised people to not use these four syrups which are made by Haryana-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals — Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup.

“Laboratory analysis of samples of each of the four products confirms that they contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants. To date, these four products have been identified in Gambia, but may have been distributed, through informal markets, to other countries or regions,” the alert from WHO stated.

Haryana’s Health Minister Anil Vij on Thursday said the samples of four syrups have been sent to Central Drugs Laboratory in Kolkata for examination.

“The samples have been collected by a team of the DCGI and Haryana's Food and Drugs Administration Department and sent to the CDL, Kolkata for examination,” Anil Vij told PTI.

Sources said, diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol — known to cause abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state, and acute kidney injury that may lead to death — were found in four of the 23 samples tested by the WHO team. However, this report has not been shared with the Indian government.

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Meanwhile, Gambia has launched a massive door-to-door campaign to recover the cough and cold syrups reportedly caused deaths of more than 60 children, reports said on Thursday. India’s ‘pharmacy of the world’ image is at stake as the Haryana-based pharma companies' cough syrup is blamed for the children’s deaths.

(With PTI inputs)