Chemical-laced syrups harmful, but not life-threatening, MFDA says

The Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA) has said that the Pakistani medicines sold in Maldives have not been found to contain life-threateing levels of the poison.

Pakistan has banned all imports of medicines from Lahore-based Pharmix Laboratories after a liquid syrup used to treat coughs, colds and allergies in children was found to contain toxic chemicals.

The MFDA, the Ministry of Health, the Health Protection Agency, Aasandha, STO and ADK have been summoned to the Human Rights and Gender Committee of the Parliament on Monday.

Asked whether anyone in Maldives has been identified as having any health risk due to the toxic ingredient in the drug, MFDA Senior Pharmacist Aishath Jaleela said on Monday that the toxic ingredient containing DEG and EG is 0.72%.

"The higher the concentration of the chemical, the more toxicity. The harmless level of this substance is 0.1%. The toxicity level of 0.72% in the drug found in Maldives is not so high, so there is little chance of direct death," he said.

Jaleela added that 25% of the previous cases of children dying from the drug containing the toxic substance were found in Indonesia.

Speaking on the symptoms of exposure to life-threatening levels of DEG and EG poisoning, Jaleela said “both in Indonesia and in Gambia, children exposed to the poison have died of kidney failure”.

In addition, the signs will include:

She added that no child has been treated for drug poisoning in Maldives so far. She also assured that the drug will not be sold in pharmacies in Maldives.

If a drug containing high levels of DEG/EG is used, the kidneys can be damaged within 8 - 24 hours. Even a small amount of the toxin can lead to kidney failure or organ dysfunction at some point in life.

The identification test for the drug sold in Maldives showed that it contained 0.72%, which is also a level that could cause future harm if the drug has been used repeatedly.