Why drugs wey dem make for India dey cause safety concerns

For 2019, pikin dem wey dey stay for di India Jammu region start to dey sick anyhow from mysterious sickness. Dis pikins bin dey suffer cough and cold so local doctors give dem one cough syrup. But instead of dem to dey recover, dem start to dey vomit get high fever and dia kidney shut down. By di time dem find di cause, 11 pikin from two months to six years old don die. Test wey sample three of di cough syrup wey Indian drug company Digital Vision, make bin get diethylene glycol or DEG, wey be chemical wey dem dey use make paint, ink and break fluids. Na kidney failure common for pipo wey take di poisonous chemical. Earlier dis month, di World Health Organisation (WHO) release warning worldwide say about four Indian made cough syrup fit don kill 66 pikin dem for di Gambia. Tests of one syrup wey one 32 year old company Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited , make show wetin dem call "unacceptable amounts" of diethylene glycol ethylene glycol. Dis contaminated medicine and deaths chook eye put India $42 billion drug manufacturing industry, half of di money wey dey come from imports. Na about 3,000 companies dey operate 10,000 pharmaceutical factories for India wey dey make generics (wey be copies of branded medicine wey dey sell for half di price), over di counter medics, vaccines and ingredients. E make India one of di beigest drug making kontris for world. Even though India dey import 70% of di active ingredient chemicals for dia medicines from China, dem still dey try make more from house. Prime Minister Narendra Modi don hail India as di "pharmacy of di world". Because India get traditional knowledge on how to make generic, e make am ogbonge low-cost maker of drugs and don turn global manufacturing base. About 40% of di over counter and generic medicine wey dem dey sell for US and all di medicine wey dem dey dispense for UK dey come from India. Di kontri dey supply about two thirds of di an retroviral melecine wey dem dey use fight HIV world wide. Apart from di USA, India get di most number of drug making plants wey dey follow America health and safety rules, 800. But as dem dey grow, na so industry don get accuse of quality problems plus weak regulation. Many pipo tink say India don always dey fight plenti fake drugs mostly for small towns and villages. But analyst say doctors and patients dey confuse sub-standard drugs with fake medicine. State-run drug testing labs for many states dey under funded short staffed and no get beta equipment. For 2014, India top drug regulator bin hala say, "If I follow US standards, I go need close almost all drug facilities". So far, e pass 70 pipo mostly pikin dem wey don die for five mass poisoning wey drugs wey get DEG inside cause since 1972. For 2013, afta seven years investigation, top Indian Ranbaxy Laboratories chop record fine of $500m for US wey di biggest dem don give generic drug maker, say dem no make, store and test dia drugs well-well. Official goment records show say from 2007 to 2020, more than 7,500 drugs wey dem test for just three India states fail quality tests, according to research wey Dinesh Thakur do. Oga Thakur na former Indian drug executive wey turn public health expert. Di drugs fail di test because either dem bin no get enough of di ingredient chemicals inside am, bin lack di ability to dissolve for patient blood or dem find say di drugs dey contaminated. Oga Thakur wey be co-author of di Truth Pill wey chook eye for India drug regulations say, "di total number of patients wey dis kain inferior drugs for don affect don enta into hundreds of thousands, even millions sef, ova di last decade ." Oga Thakur say e dey fear say many Indian companies no dey follow "good manufacturing practices" or GMP wey drug industry dey call quality control test. E tink say di DEG deaths wey happun home and abroad na because some firms "no dey test either di raw materials or di final roducts before dem send am go market". E say, "because of di amount of drugs wey dey market and dey tagged "not of standard quality", e dey clear say plenti manufacturing companies no dey bother with quality and process control wey make up good manufacturing practices". Oga Thakur use di right to information law to find out say many goment owned drug testing lab no get di key equipment. E note say drug sampling practices go back to one colonial 1875 law wey inspectors go carry small number of random samples from market. India still dey debate law wey go recall drugs wey be inferior comot from market for almost 50 years. Oga Thakur say, "all dem get na guidelines, wey many of di state regulators no even sabi. You don hear wia dem recall drug for India?" Howeva, many of India drug factories na world class. Doctors say dem trust Indian made drugs well-well. Dr Rahul Baxi wey be Mumbai-based diabetologist tok say na only once in recent years wey e don suspect di medicine afta one patient glucose level rise like mad when im change from brand medicine to cheaper generic. But, e dey suspect say di fake and inferior medicine dey sell for small towns and villages. E say, "many of my patients dey buy like six months of prescribed medicines for di city because dem say, dem no fit trust drugs wey dey dia areas." Afta di deaths of di pikin for The Gambia, India claim say dia federal regulator dey "robust, and ask WHO to tok how dem take know sat di di exported cough syrups kill di pikin dem. One pharmaceutical industry leader wey no wan tok im name outside say India drug dey completely safe. E say "we no dey defend di problems, but dem dey rare". Oga Thakur clap back say, "Rare things like that suppose happun once, you no fit pla with people's lives".