Chennai, 10 Oct

The Tamil Nadu government had alerted the Madhya Pradesh government and the Union Health Ministry about the presence of a toxic substance in Coldrif cough syrup, besides notifying authorities in Odisha and Puducherry, and thus averted a major tragedy, state Health Minister Ma Subramanian claimed on Friday.

Facing flak from AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and the MP government over the death of children linked to the consumption of the adulterated cough syrup manufactured in Tamil Nadu, Subramanian denied any regulatory lapse on the part of the government.

The state principal secretary of the Health Department ordered an inquiry into the adulteration of Coldrif cough syrup on1 October, and it was found that the medicine contained 48 per cent Diethylene Glycol, a toxic industrial solvent, he said.

"We immediately alerted Madhya Pradesh government and the Union Health Ministry about the toxic substance in the cough syrup, but they said it was good," Subramanian told reporters here.

He said the health department took prompt action within 48 hours of the incident of deaths related to the consumption of the adulterated medicine. Apart from taking steps to completely close down the Sresan Pharma Company that produced the cough syrup, the government banned the medicine in the state and suspended two senior drug inspectors, he said.

Palaniswami had accused the ruling DMK government of "negligence" and "regulatory lapse."

Replying to a question, the Minister said "generally, in such cases, the incidents of crime are investigated by the police of the state concerned."

The pharma company's owner G Ranganathan was arrested by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) from Madhya Pradesh with the assistance of Chennai police on 9 October.