An individual from India, among a group of 22 others, has been handed a prison sentence by a court in Uzbekistan in connection with the tragic deaths of 68 children reportedly caused by the consumption of tainted cough syrup in December 2022. According to a report by Reuters, this Indian citizen, identified as Singh Raghvendra Pratar, serving as an executive director at Quramax Medical, a company involved in distributing medicines manufactured by Marion Biotech, an Indian pharmaceutical company, in Uzbekistan, received the most severe punishment, a 20-year imprisonment term.
The court's verdict implicated a total of 23 individuals, each facing varying sentences ranging from two to 20 years behind bars. The charges against them included tax evasion, peddling substandard or counterfeit medications, abuse of authority, negligence, forgery, and bribery, as detailed in the Reuters report. Furthermore, the court mandated a compensation sum of 80,000 US dollars (equivalent to 1 billion Uzbek sums) for each family affected by the loss of a child due to the contaminated syrup, totaling 68 families. Additionally, provisions were made for compensating four children who suffered disabilities as a result of consuming the syrup. The responsibility for disbursing this compensation falls upon seven of the convicted individuals, as specified by the court.
The tragic incident saw a total of 86 children experiencing poisoning after ingesting the tainted cough syrup, resulting in the unfortunate demise of 68 of them. The specific syrup, Dok-1, produced by Marion Biotech, was identified as the culprit behind the fatalities, prompting Indian drug authorities at both central and state levels to initiate investigations. Consequently, the manufacturing license of Marion Biotech, headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, was revoked by state authorities in March 2023.
Moreover, three Marion Biotech employees were apprehended by the Uttar Pradesh Police, with two of its directors subject to a lookout notice. Initial findings from the investigation revealed that samples of Marion Biotech's cough syrups were adulterated and did not meet standard quality criteria. Laboratory analyses conducted at the government's regional drug testing facility in Chandigarh identified 22 of the samples as "not of standard quality," as detailed in the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
The sentencing of the Indian national in Uzbekistan in connection with the distressing incident, which unfolded over a seven-month period of court proceedings, underscores the gravity of the situation and serves as a stark reminder of the catastrophic consequences of pharmaceutical negligence.
