Another reported dead from paracetamol effects

Rid Pharma brand still available on market
One more child died in Rangpur on Friday reportedly after being administered the toxic paracetamol syrup produced by Rid Pharmaceuticals as the brand is still available on the market because of inaction of the government.
Ten-month-old Rani died at home Friday morning from renal failure that had persisted for nine days, according to the New Age correspondent in Rangpur.
With the latest incident, the death toll from such renal failure because of the administration of adulterated paracetamol syrup rose
to 25.
The Drug Administration, however, claimed it did not find the paracetamol syrup produced by Rid Pharma in pharmacies in Rangpur.
Rani, daughter of Shafiqul Islam of Syedpur at Pirgachha, had suffered from renal failure since July 26 after she was given paracetamol syrup at the prescription of a village doctor, Syedur Rahman.
As she stopped urinating, the family reportedly took her to Islami Community Hospital in Rangpur.
Dr Sadequl Islam of the hospital said her parents brought the syrup along with them when they met him in his chamber at Syedpur. ‘I found it was manufactured by Rid Pharma.’
As Rani’s condition worsened, the family took her to Rangpur Medical College Hospital where physicians found her kidneys were not functioning.
The physicians referred her to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital in Dhaka.
The head of the children’s ward at Rangpur Medical College Hospital, Professor Nurul Absar, reportedly said Rani needed dialysis, a service not available in the hospital.
Rani’s parents, however, took her back home on August 4 from the Rangpur hospital as they could not afford sending her to Dhaka for treatment.
Local resident said the village doctor had gone into hiding thee days ago and the pharmacy at Syedpur that sold the syrup to Rani’s parents has remained closed after her death.
According to a government investigation, Rid Pharma used diethylene glycol, a compound used in industries such as tanneries, in the syrup instead of propylene glycol.
The government sealed off a Rid Pharma factory in Brahmanbaria on July 22 for violating approved formulas in the preparation of its own brands of analgesic syrup.
The Drug Administration asked its employees and the owner of the company to withdraw the syrup from the market.
The health minister, AFM Ruhal Haque, on July 29 confirmed the presence of diethylene glycol in a batch of paracetamol syrup produced by Rid Pharma.
The government formed an investigation committee on July 21 after paediatricians had alerted the policymakers to the danger of adulterated paracetamol and vitamin syrups of a brand causing acute renal failure and death to 24 children in Dhaka Shishu Hospital and BSMMU hospital.
The committee confirmed that the death of at least three children was caused by the administration of paracetamol syrup produced by Rid Pharma, a committee member said on July 30.
When asked about the presence of the syrup in Rangpur, the Drug Administration director, Brigadier General M Ismail Hossain, told New Age Friday evening he had asked the department’s superintendent in Rangpur to conduct a drive to withdraw the syrup, if there was any, from the market four days ago. ‘They found no paracetamol syrup produced by Rid Pharma in pharmacies,’ he said.
Asked whether the department had filed any case against the Rid Pharmaceuticals Limited, he said the department was consulting legal advisers in this regard.
The drug administration director on August 4 said they were considering whether it would be suitable to file cases under the Special Powers Act 1974 or the Drugs (Control) Ordinance 1982, or both.

Courtesy of NewAgebd