Cough syrup tragedy: ‘Seal drug company, no other parent should suffer our ordeal’

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BHOPAL: Bereaved parents of the six children who died after being administered cough syrup, Coldrif which was found to be contaminated with 48.6% diethylene glycol, have vowed to ensure the culprits are punished.”I feel the firm owners are the real culprits. They must be punished,” said Yashin Khan, 36, from Chhindwara’s Parasia, whose 4-year-old son, Usaid, died of renal complications after taking Coldrif during treatment in Nagpur on Sept 13. Khan’s voice trembled as he spoke to TOI, but his demand was resolute: “All we ask from the government is that the company be sealed so that no other parent suffers what we are going through.”He explained that he had taken his child to the assistant of Dr Praveen Soni, Dr Aman Siddiqui. “We have been visiting them for years,” he said, adding that the tragedy had left him financially and emotionally devastated. “I not only sold my autorickshaw but also my wife’s jewellery. But I will not leave it at this – I will personally file an FIR against the company that took my son’s life.”Another grieving father, Rashid Bosham, 36, of Chakadhana village, lost his 14-month-old daughter, Sandhya, on Oct 1. “I work as a labourer in Karnataka. When she fell ill, I was away, but when her condition deteriorated, I rushed home,” he said. “Initially, she recovered, but then she stopped urinating and developed complications. We rushed her to Nagpur, where she passed away. All I want is for those truly responsible to be punished so that no parent faces what we are enduring,” he said. In Badkuhi, tragedy struck again when Yogita, 2, the daughter of a private school teacher, died on Oct 4 during treatment. “She was their only child,” said Prachi Mohaniya, an ASHA worker from Badkuhi.