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The case of suspicious syrups in Gambia, after the death of nearly 70 children, interferes in Senegal. Deaths in The Gambia may be linked to cough medicine, made in India. The producing plant was shut down on Wednesday and the WHO issued a global alert. In Senegal, a neighboring country of The Gambia, the health authorities are reassuring, but call for vigilance.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
There is no reason to panic, says Dr. Oumy Kalsoum Ndao, director general of the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (ARP), because the offending products are not authorized in Senegal. And officially, to this day, no box of suspicious syrup has not been identified. ” These four products found in a country very close to Senegal should not be in our supply chain. We have asked all service providers that if they have seen these boxes somewhere, that they report it “, he explains.
« If they have patients who show effects, let them alert “, he adds. And to add: We also asked the health security, the governors, the chief medical officers of the regions, the trade system, at the customs level, if someone finds these boxes somewhere, that they alert the ARP ».
► To read also: WHO issues alert over four Indian syrups after 66 children die in Gambia
The risk is in the informal drug markets. For this, the authorities have appealed to citizens: “ We call for serenity, but we also call for responsibility. We know full well that the products are transferred from one country to another in a fraudulent way, but if the populations help us to take the drugs where they have to take them, in the official circuit, we will be able to say that we are secure ».
The agency points out that the inscriptions on the boxes of contaminated products are in English. She relayed photos to raise awareness.