“The doctor prescribed it for us,” says the father of a girl who allegedly died from taking the syrup in Indonesia.

Father of one of at least 200 boys and girls who died in Indonesia allegedly from eating. intoxicating syrupsa participant in a collective complaint against the government and several pharmaceutical companies, whose trial began on Tuesday, claims that “it was not just some cheap medicine, but a prescription.”

“People say they are cheap drugs. Let me repeat. We, as parents, do not buy syrup in any pharmacy, rather, it was prescribed by a doctor,” Nedi Amardianto, whose 11-month-old daughter Aisha died last October, told EFE.

Devastated, the man recounts how Aisha died of acute kidney failure after spending a month in a Jakarta hospital after her initial flu condition gradually worsened after taking one of the medications, among other things. syrups authorities pointed it out Indonesian as poisonous as possible.

This is a syrup from Pt Afi Farma, one of the seven pharmaceutical and chemical goods Indonesian included in a complaint filed by 25 families of affected minors, also against the Ministry of Health and the National Food and Drug Administration, whose trial, attended by Nedi, began today.

“MYSTERIOUS” DISEASE

Nedi recounts the ordeals experienced by her little girl, her only daughter and her family, and expresses her disappointment at not knowing exactly what happened to Aisha as there were no deductions as to the causes of the 200 deaths.

“We are victims of the mysterious condition of acute kidney failure. To this day, no one knows what caused it. This is not only happening in Indonesia. This also happened in the Gambia,” the father condemns.

And the fact is that the investigations in Indonesia in connection with the increase in the number of cases of kidney failure in children began after the warning World Health Organization (WHO) in October, and for the death of over 60 minors for doing the same in The Gambia.

Although WHO In the Gambia, he listed an oral solution and three cough and cold syrups produced by the Indian laboratory Maiden Pharmaceuticals as possible causes of death, products that, according to their authorities, are not registered in Indonesia.

A third country, Uzbekistan, reported the death of at least 18 children this month, also from kidney failure. WHO announced an alert for two other cough syrups, Ambronol and DOK-1 Max, manufactured in India by another company, Marion Biotech, and distributed in that country.

At the moment, the only common characteristic among these syrups as possible causes of death in GambiaUzbekistan and known in Indonesia, is the alleged presence of excess amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol – liquid substances used as antifreeze – in all of them.

It is still unknown if there is a more direct connection between all the cases and if there is a general investigation that investigates it.

TRANSPARENCY BY CASES

Nedi assures that with their complaint they not only want to receive compensation for Governmentbut that relatives and patients who are still in hospitalwhose number is unknown.

“When in November, a week after my daughter’s death, I visited the hospital where she was admitted, another father of the sick girl told me that there were no more places for them and that some had to be sent to other centers. I think that the current data is not true, ”he notes.

Ministry of Health Indonesia has not updated data since Nov. 2, registering 200 minors who died of kidney failure out of a total of 324 cases, with an escalation since August, while in previous years the norm was one or two cases of this type of condition per child per month.

“When we arrived at the hospital, our hearts were broken. The doctor told us: you are not the only victims. Since January, we have received many patients, and in the last two months, out of 20 patients, only two have gone home with life,” Nedi cries and adds: “My daughter was declared dead as soon as she arrived.

EFE