CHENNAI: Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Tuesday demanded a comprehensive probe into the deaths of 22 children, allegedly caused by the consumption of a contaminated cough syrup manufactured in Tamil Nadu.
Describing the incident as "an unforgivable public health disaster", he urged the government to fix accountability at every level and ensure that such negligence never recurs.
In a strongly worded statement, Karti said the government must trace the supply chain of the tainted drugs and identify where the lapses occurred.
"How did the medicine pass the quality test? Were proper quality checks conducted at all? Who certified the product as safe? Every one of these questions must be investigated in detail," he said.
The Congress MP stressed that the deaths of over 20 children cannot be dismissed as mere statistics. His remarks came amid intensified investigations into Sresan Pharmaceuticals, the Tamil Nadu-based company that manufactured the Coldrif cough syrup linked to the tragedy.
On Monday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at seven locations across Chennai - including the residence of company owner S. Ranganathan and offices of senior Tamil Nadu Drug Control Department officials - as part of a money laundering probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED's action follows the arrest of Ranganathan (75) by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) from Madhya Pradesh, with the assistance of Chennai Police, on October 9. He had been absconding since reports of the child deaths in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh surfaced.
Subsequent raids on the company’s Kancheepuram manufacturing facility revealed over 300 safety and regulatory violations, including the use of non-pharmaceutical grade chemicals.
Laboratory analysis in Chennai confirmed that the syrup contained 48.6 per cent diethylene glycol (DEG), a highly-toxic industrial solvent known to cause kidney failure. Officials suspect cost-cutting measures led to the use of substandard ingredients, resulting in the fatal contamination.