In 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.
In October, the World Health Organization (WHO) linked the deaths to the syrups, saying it had found “unacceptable” levels of toxins in the medicines.
A Gambian parliamentary panel also concluded after investigations that the deaths were the result of the children ingesting the syrups.
By Vineet Khare
Source: bbc.com
