What was meant to heal has killed: Coldrif ban after 14 child deaths

A wave of grief and outrage has swept through two states after the deaths of 14 children across Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, reportedly linked to the consumption of Coldrif cough syrup.

What began as a local tragedy has now unfolded into nationwide alarm, with governments moving swiftly against the manufacturer accused of producing adulterated medicine.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav, calling the incident “extremely tragic”, announced a blanket ban on Coldrif syrup across the state, along with other products from the same company. He assured the public that “the guilty will not be spared”, adding that both local and state-level investigation teams have been constituted to probe the matter.

“The deaths of children in Chhindwara due to Coldrif syrup are extremely tragic. The sale of this syrup has been banned across Madhya Pradesh. A ban is also being imposed on other products of the company that manufactures the syrup," Yadav posted in Hindi on X.

The syrup, manufactured in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, was subjected to urgent testing by the Food Safety and Drug Administration. In a damning revelation, samples collected from the factory were found to be adulterated. Authorities immediately halted production at the facility, with officials declaring that it would not resume until the company offers a “satisfactory explanation”.

The crackdown was not limited to Madhya Pradesh. The Tamil Nadu government, acting in the wake of mounting suspicions linking the syrup to the deaths of children in both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, banned the sale of Coldrif and ordered all stocks to be removed from shelves effective 1 October. Reports indicated that the same syrup had been distributed across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Puducherry, raising fears of wider exposure.

The tragedy has also sparked political reactions. Senior Congress leader and former MP chief minister Kamal Nath alleged that the catastrophe stemmed from the mixing of brake oil solvent in the syrup, which he claimed had led to suspected kidney failures in children. While Madhya Pradesh has so far reported nine deaths, Rajasthan has confirmed three fatalities, intensifying demands for accountability.

Two-year-old Yogita from Parasia breathed her last at a Nagpur hospital on Saturday morning, becoming the youngest victim of a tragedy that has plunged Chhindwara into mourning. “Her condition had been critical for days,” said Sub-Divisional Magistrate Saurabh Kumar Yadav, confirming that six children remain under treatment — five in Nagpur and one in Chhindwara — with three battling for their lives.

The government has announced ₹4 lakh in financial aid for the families of the 14 children who have died so far — 11 from Parasia subdivision, two from Chhindwara city, and one from Chaurai tehsil.

The nine children who died earlier in Parasia — Shivam (9), Vidhi (6), Adnan (6), Usaid (9), Rishika (10), Hetansh (11), Vikas (9), Chanchlesh (8), and Sandhya Bhosom (7) — have left behind a trail of grief that runs deep through the small mining town.

SDM Yadav added that, as a precautionary measure, the local administration had already banned the sale of Coldrif and another cough syrup, Nextro-DS, earlier in the week. The test report for Coldrif arrived on Saturday confirming the worst fears, while results for Nextro-DS are still awaited — leaving anxious parents clinging to hope that no more children will suffer the same fate.

With PTI inputs