JakartaPost-Oct 20, 2022
The Health Ministry has temporarily banned the prescription of all syrup-based medicines and their over-the-counter sales amid an ongoing probe into an unexplained rise in the number of acute kidney injury (AKI) cases that has left nearly 100 children dead so far this year. As of Tuesday, the ministry had recorded at least 206 AKI cases – mostly in children under six years old – in 20 provinces with 99 fatalities since January, spokesman Mohammad Syahril told a press conference on Wednesday. This puts the fatality rate at a staggering 48 percent. “There have previously been [cases of] acute kidney injury, but at a much lower figure, only one or two [cases] each month,” Syahril said, adding that the spike in cases happened in late August. While authorities have not identified the definitive cause of the disease, the ministry has taken the precaution of ordering health facilities and medical workers to temporarily stop prescribing syrup-based medicines and drug stores to temporarily halt the sale of such medicines until further notice. “In line with the Health Ministry circular [issued on Tuesday], all kinds of syrup-based medicine are banned, not only paracetamol. [We suspect that], it’s not the contents of the medicine itself, but other components [of the medicine] that may be toxic,” Syahril said. This came after an early investigation by an expert team formed by the ministry found traces of chemical compounds that might cause the unusual kidney injury, in medicines that had been consumed by the sick children before they displayed signs of the kidney injury. The team’s investigation into the definitive cause of the illness continues, involving the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), doctors from the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), as well as the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representatives in Indonesia. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/10/19/govt-bans-sale-of-medicinal-syrups.html.
