Cough medicines that lead to acute kidney failure in children were also sold in Indonesia, reports Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

It was announced yesterday that 74 Indonesian children have died of kidney failure this year, most of them under the age of five. A cough syrup with too high a content of the dangerous substances diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol was suspected to be the cause.

Several cough syrups from the Indian company Maidan Pharmaceuticals have led to 66 deaths in children from acute kidney failure in Gambia in the past few months.

Cough drinks prohibited

The Indian company does not sell cough syrups in Indonesia, but according to Minister Sadakin, other manufacturers’ cough syrups containing too high a dose of the same substances have been sold in the country. Due to the deaths in The Gambia, Indonesia earlier this month banned all cough medicines containing diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol.

The substances have now also been found in the bodies of children who recently died of acute kidney failure, the minister explained, explaining how many of the 74 children were affected, but he did not clarify. The Indonesian government, together with representatives of the World Health Organization, is investigating the deaths and how they are linked to the deaths in The Gambia.