The Ministry of Health recommends not using 14 types of cough syrup containing Diethylene which can lead to serious health damage or death for users.
The Ministry of Health has just issued Document No. 2349 BYT-QLD on warning about some cough syrup products that are banned from use to the Department of Health of provinces and centrally run cities; and medical examination and treatment facilities under the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health said it had received a telegram from the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) warning Interpol member agencies about hundreds of children dying or suffering acute kidney damage after using 14 syrup products banned in several countries.
These are products: Promethazine Oral Solutinon, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, Magrip N Cold Syrup, Termorex Syrup, Flurin DMP Syrup, Unibebi Cough Syrup, Unibebi Demam Paracetamol Drops, Unibebi Demam Paracetamol Syrup, Paracetamol Drops, Paracetamol Syrup (mint), Vipcol Syrup, Ambronol Syrup, DOK-1 MAX Syrup.
According to information from Interpol, these products are manufactured in India and Indonesia, containing Diethylene which can lead to serious health damage or death to users.
According to the review of the Ministry of Health (Department of Drug Administration), these 14 products have not been granted a drug circulation registration certificate in Vietnam and have not been granted an import license into Vietnam.
To ensure safety for users, the Ministry of Health requests the Department of Health of provinces and centrally-run cities, medical examination and treatment facilities under the Ministry of Health to urgently disseminate and notify medical facilities, pharmaceutical facilities in the area, departments and rooms at the unit about warning information for the 14 cough syrup products mentioned above, to warn about the serious harm if using the product and strictly prohibit its use.
Facilities should increase propaganda in the area and at the unit about not using drugs that are not licensed for circulation or of unknown origin.
The Department of Health of provinces and centrally-run cities shall conduct inspections at pharmaceutical business establishments regarding the circulation of these products in particular, and drugs of unknown origin and origin, and drugs that have not been licensed for circulation in general on the market.
The Ministry of Health notes that if these products are found in circulation, they must be recalled, destroyed, and violations handled by pharmaceutical businesses according to regulations to avoid harm to users.
The results of the inspection and handling of violations (if any) are requested to be reported by the Department of Health to the Ministry of Health (Department of Drug Administration).
Previously, after recording more than 300 children's deaths in many countries due to the use of cough syrups, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement calling on countries to urgently handle and eliminate substandard pharmaceuticals.
WHO stressed that in the past four months, the organization has received reports of a number of incidents involving over-the-counter cough syrups for children containing high levels of diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG).
These are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze, they can be fatal even if ingested in very small amounts and should not be present in pharmaceuticals.
Such incidents have been reported in at least seven countries, with Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan being the three countries that have reported deaths of young children from syrups containing these toxic chemicals. Most of them were children under the age of five.
WHO has issued global warnings about pharmaceutical products linked to such incidents since October last year, and has identified six pharmaceutical companies in India and Indonesia that produce cough syrups that pose a risk to children.
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