Dubai Telegraph - 'Fix the system': Indonesia parents seek justice after cough syrup crisis

EUR -
AED 3.8756
AFN 72.200575
ALL 98.139539
AMD 411.532283
ANG 1.916419
AOA 962.319203
ARS 1053.188708
AUD 1.630218
AWG 1.899315
AZN 1.784231
BAM 1.955003
BBD 2.146925
BDT 127.068214
BGN 1.956891
BHD 0.397718
BIF 3140.020304
BMD 1.055175
BND 1.421121
BOB 7.348005
BRL 6.129194
BSD 1.063362
BTN 89.676253
BWP 14.428257
BYN 3.479882
BYR 20681.429409
BZD 2.143327
CAD 1.478495
CDF 3023.076626
CHF 0.936043
CLF 0.037472
CLP 1033.976525
CNY 7.638303
CNH 7.648689
COP 4726.12869
CRC 542.978712
CUC 1.055175
CUP 27.962137
CVE 110.22008
CZK 25.288011
DJF 189.351934
DKK 7.458214
DOP 64.043899
DZD 141.622416
EGP 52.009895
ERN 15.827625
ETB 129.779309
FJD 2.40258
FKP 0.83167
GBP 0.831235
GEL 2.880458
GGP 0.83167
GHS 17.173001
GIP 0.83167
GMD 74.917819
GNF 9164.265159
GTQ 8.216651
GYD 222.469334
HKD 8.212268
HNL 26.846059
HRK 7.526869
HTG 139.81302
HUF 408.163026
IDR 16774.7496
ILS 3.959224
IMP 0.83167
INR 89.068533
IQD 1392.932319
IRR 44414.948032
ISK 147.313122
JEP 0.83167
JMD 168.341393
JOD 0.748221
JPY 164.500191
KES 136.329796
KGS 90.952195
KHR 4308.244201
KMF 492.080753
KPW 949.658078
KRW 1481.418127
KWD 0.324772
KYD 0.886139
KZT 524.106404
LAK 23352.482837
LBP 95221.093219
LKR 310.793338
LRD 200.438313
LSL 19.102015
LTL 3.115657
LVL 0.638265
LYD 5.151876
MAD 10.572991
MDL 19.161191
MGA 4961.977776
MKD 61.584316
MMK 3427.167142
MNT 3585.4848
MOP 8.519528
MRU 42.330748
MUR 50.047248
MVR 16.302766
MWK 1843.848551
MXN 21.712439
MYR 4.735102
MZN 67.423993
NAD 19.102015
NGN 1777.041223
NIO 39.134051
NOK 11.764987
NPR 143.481165
NZD 1.799094
OMR 0.406253
PAB 1.063367
PEN 4.030158
PGK 4.274258
PHP 62.064863
PKR 295.443194
PLN 4.34422
PYG 8298.578641
QAR 3.87682
RON 4.97705
RSD 116.980897
RUB 103.919035
RWF 1459.505187
SAR 3.964662
SBD 8.846117
SCR 14.382386
SDG 634.688134
SEK 11.596378
SGD 1.419896
SHP 0.83167
SLE 24.073878
SLL 22126.461188
SOS 607.652355
SRD 37.226828
STD 21839.991486
SVC 9.304208
SYP 2651.158922
SZL 19.108032
THB 36.972803
TJS 11.329783
TMT 3.703664
TND 3.346836
TOP 2.471323
TRY 36.237853
TTD 7.226055
TWD 34.365466
TZS 2801.489873
UAH 43.929697
UGX 3902.409597
USD 1.055175
UYU 44.831729
UZS 13603.455994
VES 47.479192
VND 26796.168359
VUV 125.272516
WST 2.950778
XAF 655.689778
XAG 0.035082
XAU 0.000412
XCD 2.851663
XDR 0.801074
XOF 655.686672
XPF 119.331742
YER 263.580476
ZAR 19.275884
ZMK 9497.834156
ZMW 29.087146
ZWL 339.76591
  • CMSC

    0.0700

    24.61

    +0.28%

  • CMSD

    -0.0200

    24.73

    -0.08%

  • BCC

    1.4200

    142.55

    +1%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.24

    +0.15%

  • SCS

    -0.3000

    13.37

    -2.24%

  • RIO

    -0.5800

    60.62

    -0.96%

  • BCE

    -0.4800

    27.21

    -1.76%

  • NGG

    -0.7800

    62.12

    -1.26%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.42

    +0.51%

  • GSK

    -0.4100

    35.11

    -1.17%

  • RBGPF

    59.2500

    59.25

    +100%

  • RELX

    -0.4700

    46.12

    -1.02%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0400

    7.07

    -0.57%

  • BP

    0.4100

    28.57

    +1.44%

  • AZN

    0.1000

    65.29

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.2800

    8.75

    +3.2%

'Fix the system': Indonesia parents seek justice after cough syrup crisis
'Fix the system': Indonesia parents seek justice after cough syrup crisis / Photo: BAY ISMOYO - AFP

'Fix the system': Indonesia parents seek justice after cough syrup crisis

Dinosaur-themed birthday decorations still hang on the walls of Safitri Puspa Rani's Indonesian home, where the family celebrated their youngest son's birthday last year.

Text size:

"Knock knock! Hey everyone! It's my eighth birthday!" said a beaming Panghegar Bhumi in a video in September, while making a heart-shaped gesture with his arms.

A month later he died from acute kidney injury, days after a doctor prescribed him a cough syrup containing ingredients that have been linked to more than 200 child deaths in Indonesia, according to the country's health ministry.

"I whispered in his ears: 'The medicine is coming, please hang in there a little bit more'," Rani said, crying in her home in West Java province as she recalled the final days of her son's life.

"But I lied, there was no medicine."

The 42-year-old mother is among more than two dozen Indonesian families seeking justice for their children, whom they allege were either killed or sickened by contaminated cough syrups.

Their class-action lawsuit targets the country's health ministry, food and drug agency, and eight companies they accuse of selling the syrups -- which the World Health Organization said contain an "unacceptable amount" of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol.

"These contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that can be fatal even taken in small amounts, and should never be found in medicines," the WHO said in January.

Since October last year, the WHO has issued alerts for The Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan over syrups containing the two chemicals.

Five-year-old Farrazka was required to undergo dialysis for his failing kidneys after he took one of the medicines, his mother Indah Septian told AFP.

"When I heard that he had to have dialysis, I was so confused and did not know what to do. He is just a kid," Septian said at her home.

"Now he gets easily fatigued even when he only does a bit of activity," the 31-year-old said.

But Septian and her husband Riski Agri consider themselves luckier than other families.

"Until today I still wake up in the middle of the night and check on him. We almost lost him," 34-year-old Agri said.

- 'Not a priority' -

Since the government sounded the alarm in October, Indonesia's food and drug agency has recalled 105 products after tests revealed excessive amounts of the two chemicals.

It has also revoked the licenses of six pharmaceutical firms.

Police have launched an investigation into five companies and arrested four suspects.

But the plaintiffs say that is not enough.

"From the beginning, this case was not considered a priority," said Awan Puryadi, the lawyer representing the families.

"All of the victims who are still alive, and are still being treated, must all be covered by the government for the rest of their lives."

They are seeking compensation of 2 billion rupiah ($131,000) for every person killed and 1 billion rupiah for every person injured.

In a hearing last month, parents wore black shirts that read "I thought it was medicine, it was poison".

The next hearing is scheduled for March 9.

One of the accused companies in the lawsuit contacted by AFP denied putting the chemicals in its cough syrups and blamed a distributor for any contamination.

Indonesia's drug regulator, like the WHO, says the chemicals should never be used in syrup medicines because they can be toxic for humans.

But it says in the event of contamination during production, the chemicals can be consumed safely up to a level of 0.1 milligrams per millilitre.

Four other companies named in the lawsuit did not respond to a request for comment and AFP was not able to reach three firms. The seven have not commented publicly on the lawsuit or the allegations.

- Expensive treatments -

Without compensation, the injured children's parents face treatment costs that many cannot afford.

Eighteen-month-old Raivan was unable to move after he consumed cough syrup prescribed by a paediatrician in May, said his mother Resti Safriti.

He is now fed through a tube, and breathes through another in his neck.

In the hopes of replicating physical therapy techniques, his parents resort to rocking him on an exercise ball in their Jakarta home.

"We could not afford therapy, so we do what we can with what we have at home," Resti said.

Resti and her husband had to leave their jobs to take care of him, and she begged the government to "fix the system" that has led to her child's suffering.

"Don't let other parents and children go through this," she said. "What if this happened to your own child?"

S.Mohideen--DT