Indonesian authorities attest to an increase in the number of cases of kidney failure since the end of the summer. The situation recalls that observed in Gambia, where an investigation was opened following the death of seventy-nine children.
Le Monde
noting an unexplained increase, since August, cases of acute renal failure, the Indonesian authorities announced, Wednesday, October 19, the suspension of all sales and prescriptions of medical syrups. About a hundred young children died of acute kidney failure this year in this Southeast Asian country.
of cough syrups made in India by the Maiden Pharmaceuticals laboratory have also been recently incriminated in the death of around seventy children in Gambia, also for acute renal failure.
“Until now we have received reports from 206 cases from 20 provinces and 99 dead,” said the spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Syahril Mansyur, to journalists. “As a precaution, the ministry has asked that health professionals do not temporarily prescribe liquid drugs or syrup (…) and asked pharmacies to suspend the sale of syrups (…) until the survey is completed” , continued Mr. Mansyur.
cases that have multiplied for a few months
The cases of this rare affection have jumped since August, he explained, when they were only one or two per month previously in the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an alert in October and recommended the withdrawal of four syrups against cough and The cold produced by the Indian laboratory Maiden Pharmaceuticals and which “could have a link” with deaths recorded in Gambia.
The Indonesian health security agency, however, said that syrups imported into Gambia were not sold in Indonesia. The majority of cases of acute renal failure reported in Indonesia concern children, most of 5 years, said the ministry. The WHO office in Jakarta did not immediately respond to the press stations.