Incident raises concerns about medication safety following previous cough syrup contamination cases.
Worms were reportedly found in a bottle of Azithromycin Oral Suspension, an antibiotic syrup supplied by the government for children, at a district hospital in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. This incident came to light through a complaint from a woman who visited the outpatient department at the Maternity Home Hospital in Morar town. During her visit, she discovered black, worm-like particles in the syrup provided for her child.
Upon alerting Civil Surgeon Rajesh Sharma about the issue, immediate action was taken. Following the complaint, all 306 bottles of Azithromycin stored at the hospital were sealed and recalled to prevent further use. The health department has since sent samples of the syrup for testing to a laboratory in Bhopal, with an additional sample designated for the Central Drug Laboratory in Kolkata.
Drug Inspector Anubhuti Sharma stated that the antibiotic in question is a generic medication manufactured by a company based in Madhya Pradesh. She noted that the bottle brought in by the complainant had been opened prior to the discovery of the worms, which prompted a swift investigation into the matter. Initial inspections of some other bottles did not reveal the presence of worms; however, further testing is ongoing to ascertain the safety of the remaining stock.
This unsettling incident occurs in the backdrop of a previous health crisis in Madhya Pradesh, where 25 children reportedly died after consuming a contaminated cough syrup known as Coldrif. Similar cases of adverse reactions to a generic cough syrup were also reported in Rajasthan. In response to these incidents, the World Health Organization issued a medical alert on October 13, cautioning against the use of specific batches of cough syrups that were found to contain diethylene glycol in quantities exceeding permissible limits. This substance is known to pose serious health risks, including acute kidney and liver failure.
The alert specifically named batches of Coldrif Cough Syrup, manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceutical in Tamil Nadu, as well as Respifresh TR and ReLife, produced by Shape Pharma in Gujarat. The discovery of worms in the antibiotic syrup at the Gwalior hospital raises further questions about the safety and quality control measures in place for government-supplied medications.
