MP Cough Syrup Deaths: System Needs Complete Surgery, Not Medicines

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Substandard cough syrup has claimed the lives of 19 children. Many are battling for life at various hospitals in Nagpur. The government swung into action soon after the tragedy. It is mulling over testing medicines.

The agencies are raiding the distributors of medicines and medical stores to seize adulterated drugs. Ironically, checking the quality of medicines has become the government’s priority.  

Whenever there is a fire in a hospital, the government begins to check the NOC of the medical centre concerned. Whenever a bridge falls, a probe into bridges begins.

Similarly, if the roof of a school caves in, the government starts repairing all schools. If a lift falls, the authorities begin to check whether the buildings have any permission for a lift.  The arrest of a drug mafia leads to a campaign against drugs. In the same way, if a girl is raped, the police of the area where the incident has taken place become active.  If the mobile phone of an IG is looted, the police remain sleepless for 72 hours. Such is our system.

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Our system comes back to life only when a tragedy occurs. The government is organising a conference of collectors and commissioners. The first thing the participants of the conference should have been told is that they should not wake up after the tragedy, but they must take concrete measures to avoid such incidents. We wait for potholes to come up on the roads to fill them, but we avoid repairing them before they become death traps. The system is gasping for breath, and it needs an oxygen cylinder.  

Parasia, where the cough syrup tragedy occurred, is just 26 km away from Chhindwara, which has a medical college, but it lacks facilities for treatment. This is the reason that the parents and relatives are taking the ailing children to Nagpur. The government should take lessons from the tragedy that the facilities for treatment should be available in the state itself.

The government’s job is to set right the system, and the officers are responsible for answering to the administration. In case of an emergency situation, instead of working on one front, the officers should make the system flawless. The system does not need medicines, but it requires a surgery. Such an action will prove that we have learnt a lesson from the tragedy.

[Story by Nitendra Sharma]