Editorial: Children’s death, a collective shame

India’s pharma success story cannot rest on cheap generics alone. It must be backed by credibility, stronger audits, criminal liability for negligence and swift justice

One wonders how many more innocent children will have to die before the authorities wake up from their deep slumber and enforce strict standards in drug manufacturing. It is a collective shame that in a country that claims to be the pharma capital of the world, the drugs meant to save lives end up taking them. The death of 12 children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan due to contaminated cough syrups comes as yet another stark reminder of how lapses in drug quality can turn routine treatment into a fatal risk. The kids were allegedly given a generic cough syrup found to contain dangerous levels of an industrial chemical. As