Medical boss jailed after 68 children died from poisoned cough syrup

Monday, February 26, 2024 – The six-month-long trial over a cough syrup linked to the deaths of 68 children has finally ended.

The heartbroken parents of the victims affected by the drug will receive a compensation of £63,000.

As many as 23 people have also been jailed today over the tragedy that engulfed Uzbekistan in 2022.

The scandal broke out over the Doc-1 Max medicine by the Indian pharmaceutical company Marion Biotech.

The Central Asian nation had previously reported that 65 children had died after drinking the medicines, but last month the prosecutors at the Tashkent city court updated the death toll.

Prosecutors added that two more people had been charged during the hearings.

The defendants, including one Indian national, faced jail terms ranging from two to 20 years.

They were found guilty of tax evasion, sale of substandard or counterfeit drugs, abuse of office, negligence, forgery, and bribery.

Singh Raghvendra Pratar, an executive director of Quramax Medical, the company that sold medicines produced by India’s Marion Biotech, was handed the longest – a 20-year prison term.

Former senior officials who were in charge of licensing imported medicines were also sentenced to lengthy terms.

The court ruled that compensation amounting to £63,000 (1 billion Uzbek sums) would be paid to each of the families of 68 children who died from consumption of the syrup, as well as to four other children who became disabled.

Parents of eight other children affected by the medicine will get from £12,000 to £31,000.

The compensation money will be collected from seven of the convicts, the court’s decision said, according to the Supreme Court statement.