Indonesian authorities on Wednesday suspended the sale and prescription of these medical syrups, and announced the opening of an investigation.
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The number of children who have died of acute kidney failure in Indonesia has risen to 133, the Minister of Health announced on Friday, October 21, who attributed this increase to harmful substances contained in medical syrups. Indonesian authorities opened an investigation and banned the sale and prescription of medical syrups on Wednesday after the rise in cases of acute kidney failure.
“We identified 241 cases of acute renal failure in 22 provinces, with 133 deaths”, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said at a press conference. Health authorities have found traces of harmful chemicals in children being treated for acute kidney failure. “Seven out of eleven children had the (following) harmful substances: ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol butyl ether”he added.
“It has been confirmed that (the cases) were caused by (these) substances”, he specified. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in early October that it had found “unacceptable amounts” of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in four Indian cough syrups implicated in the death of nearly 70 children in The Gambia from acute kidney failure.
Indonesian authorities found traces of similar substances in 102 syrups at the homes of sick children, said Budi Gunadi Sadikin. The ban on prescriptions and the sale of syrups will be extended to these 102 products. Most of the cases are in children under the age of five, according to the ministry, which said some young patients had improved after an antidote imported from Singapore was administered.