AMBRONOL and DOK-1 are the two syrups inspected to be low quality and failed to meet specifications. These cough syrups made by Noida-based company Marion Biotech are harmful and should not be used for children in Uzbekistan, World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended.
What does WHO Say?
In a medical alert report on Wednesday, 11 Jan 2024 the WHO said the “substandard medical products”, manufactured by Marion Biotech, “are products that fail to meet quality standards or specifications and are therefore out of specification.”
These two medical products manufactured in India were identified in Uzbekistan and reported to the world health organization on December 22, 2022.
The WHO stated in an alert report on its website “This WHO Medical Product Alert refers to two substandard (contaminated) products, identified in Uzbekistan and reported to WHO on 22 December 2022. Substandard medical products are products that fail to meet quality standards or specifications and are therefore out of specification,”
“The two products are AMBRONOL syrup and DOK-1 Max syrup. The stated manufacturer of both products is MARION BIOTECH PVT. LTD, (Uttar Pradesh, India). To date, the stated manufacturer has not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of these products,” further stated the WHO medical product alert.
National quality control laboratories of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan found that both of these products (AMBRONOL syrup and DOK-1 Max syrup) contained harmful amounts of diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol after samples of these syrups were analysed in the laboratory states WHO.Â
Marion Biotech under action
WHO claimed that the product manufactured by this company may lead to severe health problems in children or even death. These products are unsafe and should not be consumed.
18 children lost their lives after the consumption of these syrups manufactured by Marion Biotech, alleged Uzbekistan on December 22, 2022. After this incident, the license of the company Marion Biotech was suspended by the Food Safety and Drug Administration department of Uttar Pradesh.
As Gautam Buddh Nagar Drug inspector Vaibhav Babbar said- “We have suspended the production license of Marion Biotech company after not providing enough documents, a show-cause notice was also given by the state licensing authority depending upon the documents asked during the inspection which they didn’t provide,”
Past syrup blunders from Indian manufacturers
Death with cough syrups made in India is something that keeps happening over time. In the past, nearly 70 children died in Gambia and it was linked with the syrups manufactured in India.
India is referred to as the world’s pharmacy as it exports medical products all over the world, WHO also issued a global alert on 4 syrup brands, and suspected that those could be linked with kidney damage.
Children have been continuously found positioned by cough syrups over the past years, not only in India but all over the world which is a matter of concern.
