Gambia tightens drug import rules for India after mass deaths from July 1

By Modou Joof

(Bloomberg) --Gambia is tightening medicine importation rules to prevent substandard Indian products from entering its market.

The regulation, which will take effect from July 1, mandates the inspection and testing of pharmaceutical products before they’re shipped from India, the West African nation’s Medicines Control Agency said in a statement. Reuters earlier reported the new requirements.

A report by a team of international experts blamed tainted medicine from India for an outbreak of kidney failure that killed more than 60 Gambian children last year. This came after a Gambian parliamentary committee and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both pointed to the same Indian-made syrup as the most plausible explanation for the outbreak.