Maiden Pharmaceuticals: Fury in The Gambia over India cough syrup deaths - BBC News

Grieving parents say regulators in both India and The Gambia failed their young children.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage caption, Ebrima Sajnia and his wife watched their son die last yearBy Vineet KhareBBC Hindi, Banjul, The GambiaIn September last year, Ebrima Sajnia watched helplessly as his young son slowly died in front of his eyes.

Mr Sajnia, who works as a taxi driver in The Gambia, says three-year-old Lamin was set to start attending nursery school in a few weeks when he got a fever. A doctor at a local clinic prescribed medicines, including a cough syrup, but the feverish child refused to take them.

"I forced Lamin to drink the syrup," recalls Mr Sajnia, sitting at his home in Banjul, capital of The Gambia.

Over the next few days, Lamin's condition deteriorated as he struggled to eat and even urinate. He was admitted to a hospital, where doctors detected kidney issues. Within seven days, Lamin was dead.

He was among around 70 children - younger than five - who died in The Gambia of acute kidney injuries between July and October last year after consuming one of four cough syrups made by an Indian company called Maiden Pharmaceuticals.