Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): The death toll in the cough syrup poisoning case of Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara and Betul districts has reportedly risen to 13 on Sunday.
Notably, Praveen Soni, the doctor in Chhindwara who had prescribed Coldriff syrup to children was arrested on Sunday morning. It is said most of the children had been treated at the clinic of the paediatrician in Parasia.
The children fell ill after consuming a cough syrup supplied by a Jabalpur-based pharmaceutical distributor.
After the deaths, Tehsildar Ranjhi Adarsh Jain sealed the shop of Kataria Pharmaceuticals Distributor in Jabalpur.
Drugs and Medicines Department raided
Two days earlier, the Drugs and Medicines Department had conducted a raid at the distributor’s premises.
Investigations revealed that Kataria Pharmaceuticals Distributor had supplied the cough syrup to several shops in Chhindwara, including New Apna Agency, Ayush Pharma, and Jain Medical & General Store.
Officials said that the distributor had procured 660 bottles of Coldriff Cough Syrup from a Chennai-based company, out of which 594 bottles were supplied to Chhindwara. The remaining 66 bottles have been sealed, and 16 samples have been sent to the Bhopal laboratory for testing.
Over 30 children reportedly fell ill after consuming the syrup, many of whom were referred to Chhindwara and Nagpur hospitals for treatment. Sadly, 13 of them died due to kidney failure during treatment.
A joint team of officials from the Drugs and Medicines Departments of Chhindwara, Jabalpur, Mandla, and Balaghat carried out the investigation.
Officials are now waiting for the lab test results from Bhopal to confirm whether the cough syrup contained any toxic or harmful substances.
