Unhealthy practices: Regulatory vigilance on pharma needs a relook

Deaths from ingesting contaminated cough syrups in India have occurred with distressing frequency for decades

India’s reputation as “pharmacy to the world” has taken a knock with the death of 14 children who consumed a cough syrup contaminated with industrial solvents typically used in paint, ink, and brake fluid. True to form, the state and central government apparatus has been galvanised into action after the tragedy, arresting the doctor who prescribed the cough syrup, launching a police investigation of the manufacturers of the cough syrup, instructing state health authorities not to prescribe cough syrups to children below the age of two years even as state governments started banning the sale of the offending medication. This