The ban comes as health officials investigate an unexplained rise in child deaths from acute kidney injury this year.
The Indonesian government has announced a prescription and over-the-counter ban on all syrup and liquid medicines following the deaths of nearly 100 children from acute kidney injury this year.
The ban, announced Wednesday, comes as health officials in the Southeast Asian country are investigating an unexplained rise in child deaths from acute kidney injury (AKI) since January.
“To date, there have been 206 reports from 20 provinces, with 99 deaths,” health ministry spokesman Muhammad Syahril Mansyur told a news conference.
“As a precautionary measure, the Department has asked all health care workers at medical facilities to temporarily refrain from prescribing any liquids or syrups … and until the investigation is completed, no non-prescription liquids or syrups will be used. We have asked the drug store to temporarily stop selling it,” he said.
The rising number of deaths from childhood AKI in Indonesia comes after the government of Gambia investigated 70 child deaths from AKI linked to excessive levels of diethylene glycol and paracetamol syrup containing ethylene glycol, and used an Indian-made cough syrup. .
Officials from Indonesia’s Food and Drug Administration said these products identified in Gambia are not available locally, and the ingredients that make them up are banned from all children’s medicated syrups sold in the country.
The rise in AKI cases in Indonesia began in January this year and has accelerated further since late August, said Mansyur, adding that an investigation was launched last week.
“Since late August 2022, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Pediatric Association have seen an increase in reports of acute kidney injury. .
The ministry said most of the cases involved children under the age of 18, mostly infants under the age of five.
Prior to the recent increase, the ministry typically saw one to two AKIs per month.
While the investigation into the cause continues, the ministry has purchased a specialty drug for AKI to deal with the surge, Mansyur said.
Indonesia has also formed an expert team consisting of representatives from local health authorities, pediatric authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) to investigate the surge in AKI in children.
A WHO expert investigating the case in The Gambia was also being consulted.
An October 18 Ministry of Health letter, seen by Reuters, urged hospitals to recall all drugs given to children hospitalized with AKI by their families so that toxicology tests could be conducted. Chemists should suspend sales of syrup-based medicines until further notice, the letter said.
Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) President Pipurim Basara Yanuarso told Indonesia’s Tempo news agency on Wednesday that there have been 192 cases of chronic kidney disease since January, affecting children aged 1 to 5. said he received
IDAI records 192 cases of unknown chronic kidney disease in 20 states https://t.co/3YYUM01GuV #TempoEnglish
— Tempo English (@tempo_english) October 18, 2022
IDAI and the Ministry of Health are working to determine the cause of the surge in cases, said Piprim, noting that consumption of drugs containing ethylene glycol is being investigated.
“We are looking into this,” he said. according to the tempo.
