Victims must get justice

People responsible for the death of at least 28 children following intake of toxic paracetamol syrup in 2009 will be brought to justice, Health Minister Mohammed Nasim said yesterday.

The remark came as a response to the acquittal of five officials of Rid Pharmaceuticals Ltd the day before in one of the five cases filed over the links between children's deaths and toxic paracetamol syrups.

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“Why won't those who lost their children get justice? Some have surely committed the crime. Else, how did the children die? .... I want to ensure justice,” the minister said at a press conference following a meeting with officials of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) and his ministry.

While delivering the verdict, the drug court in Dhaka said the prosecution had utterly failed to prove the charges brought against the accused.

Negligence, inefficiency and incompetence of the DGDA in handling the case led to the acquittal of the accused whose pharmaceutical company allegedly manufactured the toxic medicine, it said.

Nasim said he summoned DGDA officials to the ministry and saw their investigation report. The health secretary has already been asked to look at the DGDA probe report and the court's verdict.

If the accused have been acquitted for negligence of any of the drug administration officials, appropriate actions will be taken against them.

“They will not be spared,” the minister said, adding that the matter was of huge public interest since it involved lives and so he would not let it die down.

The accused in the case disposed of by the drug court are Rid's Managing Director Mizanur Rahman, directors Sheuli Rahman and Abdul Gani, and pharmacists Mahbubul Islam and Enamul Haque. Sheuli is the wife of Mizanur.

Between June and August of 2009, 28 children across the country died of renal failure after they took paracetamol syrup and suspension.

On July 22 that year, the Drug Administration sealed off Rid's factory in Brahmanbaria following wide media coverage of the children's death, and findings of Dhaka Shishu Hospital physician Prof Mohammad Hanif that Rid Pharma's Temset had toxic substance.

A government-formed probe body at the time also found deadly Diethylene Glycol instead of Propylene Glycol in the syrup manufactured by Rid. 

Shafiqul Islam, the then superintendent of the DGDA, filed the case with the Dhaka Drug Court in August 2009. Three other cases were also filed in this connection in Narayanganj, Brahmanbaria and Sylhet.

Loopholes were found when charges were framed by the court in March 2011.

For example, autopsy was not done on any of the children who died allegedly after taking the paracetamol syrup laced with diethylene glycol, an industrial solvent and an ingredient in antifreeze and brake fluid.

So, there was hardly any chance of linking the deaths to the presence of the toxic substance.

Besides, the fact that diethylene glycol was present in Rid Pharma's paracetamol syrup, Temset, was not even mentioned at all in three of the cases.

The cases' statements only say that the syrup was "substandard". The case filed in Narayanganj is the only exception.

Bangladesh Law Commission in an investigation in 2014 found “manipulation” of the legal process and “sheer indifference” by the DGDA in handling of four drug adulteration cases filed in the early 90s.