Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) [India], October 3 (ANI): Samples of a cough syrup linked to the deaths of several children have been collected from a pharmaceutical unit in Jabalpur on Friday and are sent for laboratory testing an official has said.

According to Sharad Kumar Jain, Drug Inspector, 'A few children fell ill and were referred to Nagpur. While treatment was underway, many children died. After that, a team was formed, and it was discovered that cold relief syrup was given to them. The syrup was supplied from a phrama company in Jabalpur'

He further said, 'The proprietor confirmed that 660 bottles of the syrup were bought. Out of these, 594 bottles were distributed to three distributors in Chhindwara, while 66 bottles remained with the company. Sixteen bottles are sent for testing, and the remaining stock has been prohibited from sale. A team is formed to investigate the matter, and the drug Inspector has been notified to freeze any remaining stock at the three firms.'

Earlier, six children were reported dead in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara district due to kidney-related complications between September 4 and September 26, an official said.

According to the families of the affected children, initially the children suffered from colds, coughs, and fevers. After that, their kidneys become affected, and their condition worsens.

The Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Naresh Gunnade said that authorities from the Centre and the State were called to probe the reason behind causing kidney failures. They have collected the sample and sent it for examination whose report is yet to arrive.

Dr Gunnade told ANI, 'The complaints of fever came to light among children in Parasia, Chhindwara from August 22 and later some deaths were reported. Three deaths of children occurred from September 4 to September 7 at a private hospital in Nagpur. During preliminary investigation, it was revealed that the children were admitted in a private hospital here and then shifted to Nagpur, they didn't visit Parasia government hospital.'

'After the incident came to light, we set up a separate 10 bed ward at Parasia government hospital. Later, three more deaths of children occurred. So far six children died from September 4 to September 26 and the reason for the death is kidney failure. Though a team of National Centre for Control Disease (NCDC) and state-level Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) came to investigate the case. They collected human samples, water samples and other concerned samples and sent it for examination whose report is yet to arrive. Some reports of human samples have arrived but there is nothing serious in it,' the CMHO said. (ANI)