The death toll linked to some unsafe cough syrups has climbed from 66 to 69, a senior Gambian health official said over the weekend.
Health minister Ahmadou Samateh told journalists that three more infants had died since the first spate of deaths blamed on the syrups which were purchased from India.
President Adama Barrow has ordered that all medical licenses of suppliers of the dangerous cough syrups in question.
The Gambian leader is under pressure from the public to act tough on those responsible for importing the four types of cough syrups to the country from a supplier in India.
Health minister Samateh has rejected public calls for him to lead a series of resignations.
In a presidential edict issued on Saturday, the Medicine Control Agency of the Health ministry has been authorized to withdraw forthwith the license given to the Maiden Pharmaceuticals where the syrups originated from.
The Gambia’s Foreign Affairs ministry has also been instructed to consult with the Indian ambassador to deal with the firm involved in the syrup scandal which has left Gambians in consternation over what they see as negligence and dereliction of duty by public health officials.
Meanwhile the Gambian police have joined the investigations after inviting the pharmacist and supplier in question for questioning.
The Gambian government has also announced that the entire drugs and medical licensing regime is being reviewed.
The WHO had issued a general alert after preliminary investigations suggested that 66 Gambian infants had died after taking the cough syrups which were blamed for acute kidney complications.
The Indian government also issued a statement saying it was investigating the suitability or otherwise of the use of the syrups which were manufactured by pharmaceutical firm based in India’s Haryana State.
The drugs said to have been manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceutical Limited in Sonipat city based in the state have been identified as Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup.
The firm has not commented after it was claimed in Indian media reports that it had supplied the syrups only to The Gambia but the WHO suspects they may have been distributed elsewhere in the world, posing an open peril to other prospective consumers.
The New Delhi offices of M/s Maiden Pharmaceutical Limited have been closed.
WHO said the syrups “contain unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants” which can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, inability to urinate, headache, acute kidney complications and death.
WN/as/APA