Gambia to test Indian drugs after cough-syrup scandal

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The Gambia is enforcing mandatory inspections and testing of all drugs imported from India.

The new measures come after at least 70 children in the small West African nation died last year after taking Indian-made cough syrups.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said they had been contaminated with toxic chemicals commonly used in car brake fluid and other industrial products.

India later said that the medicines complied with specifications when tested at home, but the WHO responded that it stood by alerts issued for four of the cough syrups.

Other batches were later linked to the death of 19 children in Uzbekistan.

India, whose pharmaceutical industry makes a third of the world's medicine, has also made it compulsory since 1 June for cough-syrup makers to get samples tested before exporting their products.

The Gambia is considering possible legal action over the deaths.

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Cough-syrup scandal

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