Ban comes as well being authorities probe an unexplained rise this 12 months in kids’s deaths from acute kidney harm.
The Indonesian authorities has introduced a ban on all syrup and liquid medication prescription and over-the-counter gross sales following the deaths of almost 100 kids from acute kidney harm this 12 months.
The ban introduced on Wednesday comes because the Southeast Asian nation’s well being authorities probe an unexplained rise since January within the variety of kids’s deaths from acute kidney harm (AKI).
“Till at this time, we have now obtained 206 reported circumstances from 20 provinces with 99 deaths,” the well being ministry’s spokesperson Muhammad Syahril Mansyur advised a press briefing.
“As a precaution, the ministry has requested all well being employees in well being services to not prescribe liquid medication or syrup briefly … we additionally requested drug shops to briefly cease non-prescription liquid medication or syrup gross sales till the investigation is accomplished,” he stated.
The rise in childhood AKI fatalities in Indonesia comes as The Gambia’s authorities probes the loss of life of 70 kids from AKI linked to paracetamol syrups used to deal with fever, which contained extreme ranges of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, in a scandal linked to 4 Indian-made cough syrups.
Officers at Indonesia’s meals and drug company stated these merchandise recognized in The Gambia weren’t accessible domestically and the substances they have been comprised of had now been banned from all youngster medicinal syrups bought within the nation.
The rise in Indonesia’s circumstances of AKI started in January this 12 months, and accelerated additional since late August, Mansyur stated, including {that a} probe was launched final week.
“Since late August 2022, the ministry and the paediatrician affiliation have obtained growing reviews of acute kidney harm. The leap is sharp,” he stated, noting that 65 p.c of circumstances had been handled in Jakarta.
Many of the circumstances concerned kids aged underneath 18, primarily toddlers underneath 5 years outdated, the ministry stated.
Earlier than the latest rise, the ministry usually noticed one or two circumstances of AKI a month.
The ministry has bought specialist medicines for AKI to deal with the spike, Mansyur stated, whereas an investigation into the trigger continues.
Indonesia has additionally fashioned an knowledgeable group to look into the AKI spike amongst kids, comprised of native well being and paediatrics officers and World Well being Group (WHO) representatives.
WHO consultants investigating circumstances in The Gambia have been additionally being consulted.
A well being ministry letter dated October 18, and seen by Reuters, requested hospitals gather all medicines that households had given to these kids admitted with AKI, so toxicology exams could possibly be carried out. Chemists ought to halt the sale of syrup-based medication till additional discover, the letter said.
Chairman of the Indonesian Paediatrician Affiliation (IDAI) Piprim Basarah Yanuarso advised Indonesia’s Tempo information organisation on Wednesday that there had been 192 circumstances of continual kidney illness since January, with the kids affected ranging in age from one to 5 years outdated.
IDAI Logs 192 Circumstances of Unknown Persistent Kidney Illness in 20 Provinces https://t.co/3YYUM01GuV #TempoEnglish
— Tempo English (@tempo_english) October 18, 2022
The IDAI and the ministry of well being are working to determine the reason for the spike in circumstances, Piprim stated, noting that the consumption of medication containing ethylene glycol is being investigated.
“We’re analyzing this,” he stated, in response to Tempo.