• There are a number of children who pass away in Indonesia from acute kidney injury (AKI).
• It is connected to dangerous ingredients in prescription syrups.
• Indonesian health officials report an inexplicable increase in the number of infants dying from AKI.

The number of children who have passed away in Indonesia from acute kidney injury (AKI) connected to dangerous ingredients in prescription syrups has increased from the previously reported 99 fatalities to 133, according to the nation’s health minister.

Indonesian health officials reported this week that they were looking into an inexplicable increase in the number of infants dying from AKI since January and have temporarily outlawed the sale and prescription of all syrup-based drugs.

The restriction came about as a result of the finding that some pharmaceutical syrups sold in Indonesia included ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, substances connected to AKI-related child deaths in The Gambia.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated at a press conference on Friday, “We have discovered 241 cases of acute renal injury in 22 regions, with 133 fatalities. The majority of victims were youngsters under the age of five.”

The minister stated that “ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, and ethylene glycol butyl ether” were present in seven out of every eleven youngsters. “It is established that (those chemicals) contributed to AKI.”

The nation’s food and drug regulator identified five domestically produced goods as containing excessive amounts of ethylene glycol and ordered the manufacturers to recall and destroy any remaining batches of those goods.

According to the minister, health officials also discovered traces of related compounds in 102 syrup medications in the homes of afflicted children. As a result, the Wednesday ban on all prescriptions for and sales of syrup and liquid medications will only apply to those 102 goods.

The minister added that more of the chemical would be purchased for distribution throughout Indonesia after health authorities tested an antidote brought in from Singapore on several AKI patients.

The country’s health ministry normally saw two to five cases of AKI each month before the recent rise in infant fatalities.

As The Gambia’s government investigates the deaths of 70 children from AKI linked to paracetamol syrups used to treat fever that contained excessive levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in a scandal linked to four Indian-made cough syrups, there has been an increase in childhood AKI fatalities there.

This month, the World Health Organization reported that it had discovered a “unacceptable level” of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in four cough syrups made in India that were suspected of being responsible for the deaths in The Gambia.

[embedpost slug=”australia-committed-to-working-with-indonesia-on-military-matters”]