MP doctor who prescribed deadly cough syrup now arrested

Doctor from Madhya Pradesh who prescribed a cough syrup that killed children has now been arrested.

The Madhya Pradesh government had also filed a case against Srisan Pharmaceuticals, which manufactured the Coldrif Syrup that killed children in the state. Most of the children who died were treated at the clinic of Praveen Soni.

A doctor from Madhya Pradesh was arrested in the cough syrup row.

The doctor from Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara who prescribed Coldrif syrup to children has been arrested amid a massive row over the deaths of 11 children who allegedly consumed the contaminated cough syrup, said officials on Sunday. Most of the children were treated at the clinic of Praveen Soni, a paediatrician in Parasia. The government doctor, Soni, who prescribed the syrup to children during their visit to his private clinic, was also suspended.

The Madhya Pradesh government files a case against Srisan Pharmaceuticals.

The government had earlier banned the sale of Coldrif Syrup, with officials saying that the samples of the drug were found to contain 48.6 % diethylene glycol, a highly toxic substance. The syrup’s sample, tested by the government drug analyst at the Drug Testing Laboratory in Chennai, was declared “Not of Standard Quality” by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Drug Control. This led to the local administration banning the sale of Coldrif and another cough syrup, ‘Nextro-DS’, as a precautionary measure. The test report for Coldrif arrived on Saturday, while that of Nextro-DS is awaited.

Mohan Yadav, Chief Minister, on the children’s deaths called it “extremely tragic” and said strict action will be taken against those responsible. He wrote on X on Saturday, “The deaths of children in Chhindwara due to Coldrif syrup are extremely tragic. The sale of this syrup has been banned across Madhya Pradesh. A ban is also being imposed on the sale of other products from the company that manufactures the syrup.”