Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Rajendra Shukla has declared the Chhindwara cough syrup incident a serious crime. He has demanded strict action against the employees of the company responsible for this incident and negligent officials.
Madhya Pradesh: Following the Chhindwara cough syrup incident, the Madhya Pradesh government has adopted a strict stance. Health Minister Rajendra Shukla declared it a serious crime and demanded stringent action against the employees of the guilty company and negligent officials. The Minister also instructed to maintain continuous contact with the Tamil Nadu health team in this matter so that the culprits can be held accountable as soon as possible.
To review this incident and decide on the next steps, the Health Department convened an incident review meeting. The meeting discussed several new rules to be implemented immediately, aimed at strictly monitoring the sale, stock, and quality of codeine-containing medicines.
New Rules on Cough Syrup and Codeine
Health Minister Rajendra Shukla clarified that strict rules will now be enforced on the production and sale of codeine-containing cough syrups. Under this, the government, in collaboration with CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organization), has ordered a thorough investigation of companies manufacturing cough syrups. Specifically, syrups like Coldrif, Relife, and Respifresh TR will be monitored daily. Records of stock, sales, and seized quantities will be maintained, and immediate action will be taken against any irregularities.
- Medicines available only on a doctor's prescription.
- If a company sells more than 1,000 bottles to a wholesaler in a month.
- Or if a wholesaler sells more than 50 bottles to a retailer.
- Then drug inspectors will immediately investigate.
Furthermore, codeine-containing medicines will only be available on a doctor's prescription. The sale of scheduled medicines will only be carried out in the presence of a registered pharmacist. The name of the doctor and the patient will also be recorded in each sales register.
The Madhya Pradesh government has made testing for DEG (Diethylene Glycol) and EG (Ethylene Glycol) mandatory in the general monograph of the Indian Pharmacopoeia. Now, companies manufacturing cough syrups will have to regularly test for these harmful chemicals. The objective of this step is to prevent health problems caused by the consumption of any harmful substances in the future.
