Cough syrup-linked kidney failure claims 12 little lives in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan

In the heart of Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara, a quiet sorrow hangs heavy in the air. What first appeared as harmless bouts of seasonal fever has unfurled into a heartbreaking tragedy — nine children gone in just a fortnight, their young lives claimed by the shadow of sudden kidney failure, India Today report.

Health officials in Madhya Pradesh, and now in Rajasthan’s Sikar where a similar sorrow unfolded, now whisper of a chilling connection — that tainted cough syrups may be the unseen poison weaving tragedy through the lives of children.

Parasia sub-divisional magistrate Shubham Yadav confirmed, with quiet gravity, that nine tender lives have already been lost in Chhindwara, rising from the six mourned earlier this week. "Precautionary measures are in full swing," he assured, as the district rallied to stem the unfolding tragedy.

The shadow of suspicion has already set sweeping measures in motion. Entire batches of dextromethorphan hydrobromide syrup now lie under urgent scrutiny, their distribution halted across the state like a poisoned stream dammed midcourse.

Meanwhile, the fragile health of 1,420 children battling fever and flu-like ailments is under watch. A strict protocol guides their care: any child unwell beyond two days is placed under a hospital’s unwavering vigilance, rushed to the district facility should their condition falter and once steadied, entrusted to the attentive watch of ASHA workers in their villages.

Heartbreak still shadows Chhindwara, as among the nine young souls lost, at least five had ingested the syrup known as Coldref, and the last one, Nextro. Private physicians have been sternly cautioned against tending to viral cases in isolation, urging instead that health workers guide the afflicted swiftly to the sanctuary of civil hospitals.

Meanwhile, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has stepped in, collecting water, entomological and drug samples from affected areas in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan both. These will be tested to rule out any infectious disease, with results to be shared with state drug regulators.

In Rajasthan, the death of three children — as highlighted by the Congress — has seen the Medical Services Corporation ban 19 batches of the suspected syrup and issuing urgent advisories to doctors, parents and chemists to exercise vigilance.

What began as ‘seasonal fevers’ in playful children has now left families broken and villages in mourning. With every passing day, the urgency for answers grows sharper — as parents, doctors and officials wait for the truth to emerge from the laboratories.

Meanwhile, the Congress has alleged that the affected children in Rajasthan were given the syrup at government hospitals under the chief minister's free health care scheme Mukhyamantri Nihshulk Dawa Yojana — and manufactured by a company called Kayson’s that had already been blacklisted over spurious drugs... and yet continues to supply even state-run healthcare facilities!

With agency inputs