BHOPAL: A five-month-old girl, administered a combination of medications, including a herbal cough syrup, passed away today in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh.
Trgically, Chhindwara is where at least 20 kids lost their lives due to contaminated cough syrup-induced acute kidney failure, recently.
Two men running a medical store in Bichua town of Chhindwara district are being questioned by police, while samples of medications at their shop are being tested by a team of the state food and drugs department.
The victim Ruhi Minote, was declared brought dead at the Bichua community health centre of Chhindwara district on Thursday early morning.
“My daughter was down with a cough, cold and fever on Monday. We first took her to the government health facility in Bichua town, but with no doctors being present, we went to the Kurethe Medicals (a private medical shop) where the staff gave us pudiyas (sachets) of some medications and a herbal cough syrup. Her condition improved initially on administering the medications, but her condition started deteriorating from Tuesday. We rushed her to the government community health centre (CHC) on Thursday morning, where the doctors declared her as brought dead,” Ruhi’s father, Sandip Minote, said.
The matter was reported to the Bichua police station, after which an inquest was lodged for investigation under Section 194 BNSS.
“An inquest has been lodged under Section 194 BNSS, teams of the health department and the food and drugs department too are conducting an enquiry in the matter through analysis of samples seized from the shop,” Bichua police station in-charge Satish Uikey said.
The incident happened days after the deaths of 20 kids from Parasia and Chourai in Chhindwara district and three more kids from Pandhurna and Betul districts. These kids were administered Coldrif cough syrup prescribed by government paediatrician Dr Pravin Soni at his private clinic in Parasia town in September.
An SIT probe is currently underway in the case, and six persons have so far been arrested in the case, including Dr Pravin Soni, Ranganathan Govindan who is the owner of the Tamil Nadu-based pharmaceutical firm and the firm’s female pharmacist, besides a medical representative working for the firm.