After Cough Syrup Deaths, MP Hospital Faces Probe Over ‘Worms’ Found in Medicine

Gwalior: Amid reports of child deaths in Madhya Pradesh linked to toxic cough syrup, a government hospital in Gwalior has come under scrutiny after worms were allegedly found in a bottle of antibiotic medicine given to a child.
Following a complaint by the child’s mother, authorities sealed the entire stock of Azithromycin oral suspension available at the government hospital in Morar and sent samples to a laboratory in Bhopal for testing. The medicine, commonly prescribed to children for infections, was a generic drug manufactured by a Madhya Pradesh-based company.
Drug Inspector Anubhuti Sharma said the woman had brought an opened bottle of the antibiotic and complained that it contained worms. “The matter was immediately taken up for investigation,” Sharma said. All 306 bottles of the same batch distributed or stored at the hospital have now been recalled and seized.
While a preliminary inspection of several bottles did not reveal any visible contamination, Sharma said laboratory testing is essential to confirm the safety of the medicine. Samples have been dispatched to the state lab in Bhopal and will also be sent to the Central Drug Laboratory in Kolkata for further analysis.
The complaint comes just days after the deaths of 25 children in Chhindwara district, suspected to have been caused by renal failure following the consumption of adulterated Coldrif cough syrup. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has since issued a global alert against three substandard Indian-made cough syrups — Coldrif, Respifresh TR, and ReLife.