While the government has ordered the suspension and investigation, it is yet to confirm if the deaths in Bharatpur were caused due to consumption of cough syrup. This according to NDTV was because the medicine in question was not mentioned on the prescription.
Director of Public Health Dr. Ravi Prakash Sharma said that the doctors had not prescribed the syrup in the Bharatpur cases as it is not recommended for children, reported NDTV. However, Samrat’s mother insisted that the syrup was prescribed by the chief health officer working at the village sub-health center. She said she did not give him the syrup on her own.
She further added that the dextromethorphan syrup was administered to her three children after a consultation of Sept. 18. Two of them vomited and survived but Samrat lost consciousness and died in a hospital on Sept. 22.
However, when NDTV’s team visited the village of these children, locals there confirmed that the cough syrup with dextromethorphan hydrobromide was being distributed at government dispensaries.
