The number of children who have died from acute kidney failure in Indonesia has risen to 133, the Health Minister announced on Friday, attributing the increase to harmful substances contained in medicinal syrups.
241 cases
Indonesian authorities opened an investigation and banned the sale and prescription of medical syrups on Wednesday following the rise in cases of acute kidney failure. “We have identified 241 cases of acute renal failure in 22 provinces, with 133 deaths,” Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told a news conference.
Health authorities have found traces of harmful chemicals in children being treated for acute kidney failure. “Seven out of eleven children had the (following) harmful substances: ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, and ethylene glycol butyl ether,” she added. “It has been confirmed that (the cases) were caused by (these) substances,” she said.
The Gambian precedent
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in early October that it had found “unacceptable amounts” of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in four Indian cough syrups implicated in the deaths of nearly 70 children in The Gambia from “acute kidney failure.” Indonesian authorities have discovered traces of similar substances in 102 syrups in the homes of sick children, Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.
The ban on recipes and the sale of syrups will be extended to these 102 products. Most of the cases are children under the age of five, according to the ministry. The condition of some young patients improved after administration of an antidote imported from Singapore, the minister said.
Source: BFM TV
