Illustrative image (Photo: Reuters) Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Health (MoH) has warned healthdepartments, and medical examination and treatment establishments of localitiesnationwide about 14 cough syrup products banned in some countries which have causeddeath or acute kidney damage for hundreds of children.
Previously, the ministry received a relevant warning from the InternationalCriminal Police Organisation (Interpol) that these products, producedin India and Indonesia, contain diethylene that can cause serious harm tohealth or death to users.
According to the Drug Administration of Vietnam under the MoH,these products have not been granted drug registration certificates in Vietnamand certificates for import into the country.
To ensure safety for users, the ministry asked healthdepartments of provinces and centrally-run cities, and medical establishmentsunder the MoH to urgently disseminate information related to the serious harm of theseproducts.
Health departments havebeen requested to conduct inspections at pharmaceutical business establishmentson the circulation of theseproducts in particular; medicines without origin, or those that have yet to be approvedfor circulation, in general.
Meanwhile, health facilities nationwide have been also demanded to not use the syrups, which are listed as follows.
Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, MakoffBaby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup produced by Maiden PharmaceuticalsLimited; Temorex Syrup by PT Konimex; Flurin DMP Syrup by PT Yarindo;Unibebi Cough Syrup, Unibebi Demam Paracetamol Drops and Unibebi Demam ParacetamolSyrup by PT Universal Pharmaceutical Industries; Paracetamol Drops, ParacetamolSyrup (mint) and Vipcol Syrup by PT AFI FARMA; Ambronol Syrup and DOK-1 MAXSyrup by Marion Biotech PVT. Ltd.
In October last year, many deaths after using cough syrups werereported in Gambia. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the deathscould be related to four products namely PromethazineOral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff BabyCough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup, produced by Maiden PharmaceuticalsLimited of India.
Laboratoryanalysis of samples of each of the four products confirmed that they containunacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants. Indianauthorities then investigated and asked Maiden to stop producing the syrups./.
