Tuesday marked the start of a trial in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, regarding the deaths of young children who consumed cough syrup produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals, an Indian company, last year. (Read Here)
In 2022, 70 children under the age of five died after ingesting over-the-counter medications, sparking a public outrage in the 2.5 million-person West African country.
Three state defendants who failed to appear, according to Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of the High Court in Banjul, “lacked diligence” and the hearings were adjourned until November 7.
According to Salieu Taal, president of The Gambia Bar Association, who is also one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, nineteen plaintiffs filed the civil claim in July on behalf of their deceased family members.
The families are demanding that the five defendants—Maiden Pharmaceuticals, the Ministry of Health, Atlantic Pharmaceuticals, the local distributor, the Medical Controls Agency (MCA), and Attorney General Dawda A. Jallow—acknowledge that the children died as a result of ingesting tainted medications.
In addition, they are suing the MCA to acknowledge that it did not fulfil its legal obligation to control the efficacy and security of pharmaceuticals.
They are requesting damages of 15 million Dalasis, or roughly $230,000, for each child.
- Motion dismissed
None of the five defendants were present on Tuesday.
The health ministry, MCA and attorney general requested a delay to the start of the trial, a motion the judge dimissed. He ordered the three to pay 10,000 Dalasis to the plaintiffs.
The trial had already been delayed in July after the attorney general and health ministry claimed they had not been served subpoenas with adequate time to familiarize themselves with the lawsuit.
Beginning in September last year, The Gambia ordered a recall of several cough and cold medications, as well as all products manufactured by the Indian laboratory Maiden Pharmaceuticals from which the adulterated syrups originated, after the deaths from kidney failure of at least 70 young children.
It subsequently banned all products from the Indian firm.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), lab tests found “unacceptable amounts” of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which are commonly used as antifreeze and can be fatal when ingested.
The toxic impact from these substances includes “acute kidney injury which may lead to death”, the agency has said.
- ‘Want justice’
Speaking to AFP in October 2022, grieving parents called on President Adama Barrow’s government to take action.
“President Barrow should sack the health minister, but instead of sacking him, he was praising the minister,” said Wuri Bailo Keita, whose two-year-old daughter Fatoumatta was among the victims.
- “We want justice for these children.”
In July, a government taskforce announced its finding that four cough syrups imported from India were responsible for the deaths.
At the time, Health Minister Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh said there were failings in regulatory and import checks of the medication, beginning with the products not being registered with the MCA.
He said the agency’s head had been dismissed.
The Gambian government also said it was exploring options to take legal action against the Indian manufacturer.
In the aftermath of the scandal, India launched an investigation and shut down the Maiden Pharmaceuticals plant last October.
In January, the WHO announced a call for “immediate and coordinated action” to eradicate non-compliant and falsified medicines, in particular tainted cough syrups linked to the deaths of 300 children in Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan.
