There's a familiar, damning silence that echoes from the corridors of India’s drug regulators and pharmaceutical boardrooms. Even as a paediatrician in Uttar Pradesh has been arrested, following the tragic deaths of 16 children from contaminated cough syrup.

No, this is not a plot of a dystopian novel. It is the grim reality playing out in Chhindwara and Betul in Madhya Pradesh, the latest epicentre of India’s recurring cough syrup crisis. The toxic cough syrup in question this time is Coldrif , manufactured by Sresun Pharmaceuticals, which has now been found to contain 48.6% Diethylene Glycol (DEG), a known industrial solvent responsible for kidney failure and death.

We’ve seen this story unfold before. And every time, it ends the same way: the doctor becomes the scapegoat, the system

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