Indian authorities have said they found no traces of deadly ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol in Maiden Pharmaceuticals drugs linked to the deaths of 72 children in The Gambia 

In a letter to the WHO dated December 13, the Drug Controller General of India, V.G. Somani, said they have run tests of the products of Maiden Pharmaceuticals and have not detected any traces of ethylene glycol (EG) or diethylene glycol (DEG). 

“As per the test reports received from [the] government laboratory, all the control samples of the four products have been found to be complying with specifications,”Somani said.

A senior adviser to India’s information and broadcasting ministry told the BBC that the WHO had been “presumptuous” in blaming the cough syrups for the deaths of the children.

“Subsequent inspections, tests and studies by Government of India’s notified bodies and technical team have shown that WHO’s presumptuous statement was untrue and incorrect,” Kanchan Gupta told the BBC.

However, the WHO has said it stands by its action when it issued a global alert in October advising regulators to stop the sale of the syrups made by Maiden Pharmaceuticals, a company based in the northern Indian state of Haryana. 

“When many children die of mysterious sickness, it’s a tragedy that means WHO had to act quickly,” the agency said.

“WHO-contracted laboratories in Ghana and Switzerland tested the suspected cough syrups products from The Gambia and confirmed excess levels of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol,” WHO said, adding that it immediately shared the results with authorities in The Gambia and India, as well as with Maiden Pharmaceuticals officials.

The UN agency said that its investigators found “unacceptable” levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which can be toxic and lead to acute kidney injury.

Medical authorities and the victims’ families in The Gambia have expressed shock and disbelief after the Indian government absolved Maiden Pharmaceuticals company whose cough syrups allegedly caused the deaths of 72 children in the country earlier this year. 

“It’s unbelievable. The greatest proof we have of the Indian company’s involvement is that since we withdrew its drugs, we haven’t had a single case,” Dr. Peter Adebayo Adewuyi, Resident Advisor, Gambia’s Field Epidemiology Training Programme, who has been keeping track of the developments, told TRT World.