NEW DELHI:
Uzbekistan
on Monday sentenced 23 people to
prison terms
over the death of 68 children who consumed a
contaminated cough syrup
produced in India.
Indian citizen Singh Raghvendra Pratap, the director of a company that imported the Doc-1 Max syrup into Uzbekistan, was handed the longest – 20-year – prison term. They were found guilty of tax evasion, sale of substandard or counterfeit medicines, abuse of office, negligence, forgery, and bribery.
Long sentences were also imposed on former senior officials who were in charge of licencing imported medications.
The court determined that each of the families of the 68 children who died after consuming the syrup, as well as the families of the four additional children who had disabilities, would receive compensation totaling $80,000 (1 billion Uzbek sums).
Eight more drug-affected children’s parents will receive between $16,000 and $40,000. According to the Supreme Court statement, the compensation money will be collected from seven of the convicts.
The World Health Organisation stated in January 2023 that samples of the syrup tested positive for either diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol, hazardous chemicals used as industrial solvents that are lethal in even small doses.
India then revoked Marion Biotech’s production licence, which allowed it to continue producing the cough syrups.
In the same time frame, another syrup smuggled from India caused acute renal failure that claimed the lives of at least seventy children in the Gambia.
In Indonesia, between 2022 and 2023, almost 200 youngsters lost their lives due to a different syrup in comparable containers.
(With inputs from agencies)
