Still, we must also involve the Industry Ministry to supervise domestic (pharmaceutical) industries...Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Government is investigating pharmaceutical raw materials and drug products suspected of causing acute kidney failure in children, Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy informed on Friday.
"(Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin) has reported (regarding the cases) to me. Furthermore, I have to invite the Trade Ministry and the Industry Ministry (to discuss the matter), especially since it is possible that the raw materials (for the drugs) are imported, even maybe the drug product itself is imported," he noted at the Presidential Palace here.
Currently, the cause behind acute kidney failure is still being probed by the Health Ministry and the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM), he said.
"Still, we must also involve the Industry Ministry to supervise domestic (pharmaceutical) industries, which are currently suspected of being the cause for the acute kidney failure cases," he added.
Earlier, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin had informed that his ministry and the BPOM had detected three hazardous chemicals, namely ethylene glycol (EG), diethylene glycol (DEG), and ethylene glycol butyl ether (EGBE) in 15 samples of medicinal syrup products consumed by acute kidney failure patients.
Related news: EG, DEG in five medicinal syrup products exceed safe level: BPOM
The chemicals were detected in the patients’ organs, according to a study conducted on 99 toddlers who died of kidney failure in the country.
In addition, BPOM has tested 36 production batches of 26 medicinal syrup products suspected of being contaminated with EG and DEG as of October 19, 2022.
Based on the testing, the agency announced on October 20 that the EG contamination of five medicinal syrup products in Indonesia exceeded the tolerable daily intake (TDI) level.
The products included Termorex Syrup (fever medicine), Flurine DMP Syrup (cough and flu medicine), Unibebi Cough Syrup (cough and flu medicine), Unibebi Fever Syrup (fever medicine), and Unibebi Fever Drops (fever medicine).
However, BPOM said that the results of tests conducted on the five products could not conclude that their use was related to acute kidney failure since there are several other factors that can cause acute kidney failure, such as a viral infection, leptospirosis, and post-COVID-19 multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).
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Translator: Desca Natalia, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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