Indian among 21 sentenced in Uzbekistan over deaths by cough syrup produced in India

Mangalore Today News Network/News18

New Delhi, Feb 27, 2024: Uzbekistan on Monday sentenced 21 people linked to the deaths of 68 children who consumed a contaminated cough syrup produced in India.

According to an AFP report, Indian citizen Singh Raghvendra Pratap, the director of the company that imported the Doc-1 Max syrup into Uzbekistan, was handed the harshest sentence of 20 years.

 

Raghvendra was found guilty of corruption, tax fraud and forgery, according to the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan.

At least 86 children in Uzbekistan were poisoned between 2022 and 2023 after consuming the said cough syrup, of whom 68 died.

Testing of samples of the syrup revealed it was contaminated with either diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol, which are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and can be fatal if ingested even in small amounts, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in January 2023.

India had subsequently cancelled the production licence for Marion Biotech, which manufactured the cough syrups.

During the same time, at least 70 children died in Gambia from acute kidney failure after consuming another syrup imported from India.