Nagpur: In a chilling medical tragedy that has sent shockwaves through central India, at least 14 children from Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh are battling for their lives in government and private hospitals in Nagpur after suffering acute kidney failure allegedly caused by the now-banned cough syrup ‘Coldrif’.
Laboratory investigations have confirmed the worst fears of health authorities, the deaths of six children at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Nagpur, were due to renal failure triggered by diethylene glycol (DEG) toxicity. Initially suspected to be cases of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), doctors were alarmed when several children brought with symptoms of cough and fever showed zero urine output, prompting further toxicological analysis.
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The Maharashtra Government, on Sunday, banned the sale and distribution of Coldrif, manufactured by Sresan Pharma in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu, after lab tests revealed 48.6% contamination of diethylene glycol, a toxic industrial chemical commonly used in antifreeze and brake fluids.
At GMCH, three children remain on ventilator support while two others are in critical condition, according to Dr Manish Tiwari, Head of the Department of Paediatrics.
“The six children who succumbed had all been given the cough syrup Coldrif. Lab results confirmed renal failure due to drug toxicity,” Dr Tiwari said, adding that the pattern of kidney shutdown was identical across all affected children.
Confirming the scale of the crisis, Dr Shashikant Shambharkar, Deputy Director of Health Services, said 14 children are currently under treatment in Nagpur hospitals.
“We have directed all public health hospitals across the six districts under Nagpur division not to prescribe Coldrif or any similar formulation. Thankfully, no such renal failure cases have been reported from Nagpur or other Vidarbha districts so far,” he clarified.
Paediatric intensivist Dr Anupam Bahe from Nelson Hospital, where several critically ill children are being treated, revealed that some of the patients were also given other locally branded cough syrups.
“Two children who had consumed different local-brand syrups are still in critical condition after being shifted to other hospitals,” he said, suggesting that multiple contaminated formulations may be circulating in the market.
Meanwhile, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has stepped in to contain the crisis. It plans to issue an advisory to all city doctors warning against prescribing any cough syrup, especially to children below five years. An intensified surveillance and monitoring drive is also underway to track the source and spread of the contaminated medicines.
NMC health officials said preliminary findings raised red flags when all viral infection tests for the affected children came back negative, leading doctors to suspect a toxic reaction rather than a viral cause. “Results of several more samples are still awaited,” officials confirmed.
The Coldrif tragedy has drawn parallels to previous mass poisoning incidents caused by DEG-laced syrups in India, reigniting questions over drug regulation, manufacturing oversight, and the safety of pediatric formulations. As families in Chhindwara pray for their children’s recovery, authorities in both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh face mounting pressure to identify and eliminate the entire supply chain of the toxic cough syrup before more lives are lost.
