Madhya Pradesh 01-10-2025: In a heart-wrenching tragedy that has shaken Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district, six children have died of kidney failure in the past 15 days.
What initially appeared to be a routine wave of seasonal fever has now taken a sinister turn, with investigators suspecting contaminated cough syrup laced with toxic diethylene glycol as the cause of the deaths.
According to distraught families, the children, all under the age of five, had first complained of a cold and mild fever. Local doctors prescribed routine medication, including cough syrups, after which the children seemed to recover. But within days, the symptoms returned, followed by a sudden and alarming decrease in urine output. The condition quickly worsened into kidney infections.
Despite being rushed to Maharashtra’s Nagpur for advanced treatment, three of the children died there.
“Our children had never even been sick before,” said a grieving parent. “This time, they had a small fever. After the syrup, their urine stopped. We couldn’t save them.”
The turning point came when kidney biopsies revealed the presence of diethylene glycol contamination, a toxic chemical often associated with pharmaceutical poisoning. Most of the victims had been administered Coldrif and Nextro-DS syrups.
Chhindwara Collector Sheelendra Singh immediately banned the sale of the two syrups across the district and issued an urgent advisory to doctors, pharmacies, and parents.
“The biopsy report strongly suggests contaminated medicine as the cause of kidney failure. Water samples from the affected villages have shown no infection. The drug link cannot be ignored,” Singh said.
Given the seriousness, the district administration has called in a team from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
A two-member team from Bhopal’s Health Department has also arrived in Parasia, Newton Chikli, and nearby villages. The officials are interviewing families, collecting medicine samples, and conducting door-to-door surveys to identify other affected children.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Naresh Gonare revealed that the first suspected case was reported on August 24, and the first death occurred on September 7.
“Since September 20, more cases of urinary retention and kidney complications have emerged. This is a sensitive period for viral infections, but sudden kidney failure in so many children points to something far more dangerous,” he said.
The ICMR team has already sent blood and medicine samples to the Virology Institute in Pune for further analysis.
As grieving families demand justice and answers, the administration faces mounting pressure.
