A court in Madhya Pradesh has denied bail to a doctor recently arrested for prescribing Coldrif cough syrup that led to the death of several children in Chhindwara district.
Additional Sessions Judge Goutam Kumar Gujre, posted at Parasia Civil Court, took note of the prosecution submission that the pediatrician Dr. Praveen Soni had prescribed the medicine to children below the age of four years in violation of the guidelines issued by Directorate General of Health Sciences.
In the order passed on October 8, the Court also said that the probe into the deaths is still incomplete and the allegations against the accused are of serious nature. Therefore, it refused to grant regular bail to Soni.
At least 24 children died after allegedly consuming the cough syrup in Madhya Pradesh, according to media reports. The State government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter. Besides Soni, Govindan Ranganathan, the owner of Tamil Nadu-based Sresan Pharmaceuticals, was also arrested in the case.
The deaths have sparked outrage across India with many States banning Coldrif after it was reportedly found to be contaminated with high levels of toxic Diethylene Glycol.
However, Indian Medical Association (IMA) has condemned Dr. Soni’s arrest, stating that the culpability for introducing an adulterated drug into the market rests squarely with the manufacturer and the enforcement agencies. Following the deaths, World Health Organization (WHO) has voiced "deep concern" over gaps in India's drug safety regulations, the BBC reported.
Dr. Soni’s counsel argued before the Court that prior to the State government decision to ban the cough syrup, it had been duly approved and recommended for medical use by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization.
It was also contended Dr. Soni is a government doctor and has been practicing for the past 35-40 years. He has been falsely implicated in the case for merely prescribing the medication meant for treatment of the children, the Court was told. The pharmaceutical company is solely responsible for the adulteration of the medicine, the counsel said.
However, the police claimed that Dr. Soni had received 10 percent commission for prescribing the cough syrup and that a medical shop, owned by his relatives and located near his private clinic, sells the medicine.
After hearing the parties, the Court refused to grant bail.
The Supreme Court had on October 10 declined to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking an independent, court-monitored probe into the deaths linked to the contaminated cough syrup.