The Lingering Menace of Cough Syrup Adulteration: A Global Portrait of Child Deaths.

The recent death of many children linked to cough syrup has raised many questions on Indian drug manufacturing quality and its regulation. As WHO linked the death to the poor standard of the drug, it poses a serious question on the prevalent practice of manufacturing and quality control in the country. Moreover, as the deaths were for treatment of a mild symptom, it raises many questions such as why this happened, that is, whether there was any contamination to the formulation? Was there any issue with the manufacturing or quality check? In this viewpoint, we have discussed the possible reasons for child deaths, looked at the possible flaws at policy level, and recommended some policy changes for prevention of this menace in the future.