Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh is still dealing with the Chhindwara toxic cough syrup catastrophe that killed 23 children, and now there is another distressing case of health agency neglect. This time, a lot of school and Anganwadi kids in the state may have been given bad deworming tablets.
On September 23 and 26, Albendazole 400 mg pills were given out to kids in schools, Anganwadis, and other places as part of the state’s big deworming program. After the medicines were given out, however, laboratory tests showed that Batch No. B251362 had failed quality testing. This shows that the department’s drug safety checks were not up to par.
After the news broke, the Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) of Ashoknagar district gave an urgent order on Monday for all lower-level offices to stop giving out Albendazole tablets right away.
When media asked the civil surgeon of Ashoknagar for more information on how the failing batch got to kids through a state-run campaign, he refused to go on camera and said it was just a “routine procedure.” Later, when reporters went to the district medical store to see how many of the failed batch had been received and sent out, the storekeeper and staff locked the doors and wouldn’t answer any questions.
Public health professionals are quite worried about how well the state’s health department and drug regulating systems work.
“How did the department let so many tablets get to so many kids without testing or checking them first?” An expert asked, “Why were tests done only after the campaign was over?”
Officials said that thus yet, no children who took the medications have had any bad responses.
But this incident has brought back up the issue about Madhya Pradesh’s medicine procurement and quality control system, especially because an earlier report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) pointed out problems with the state’s public health administration.
The CAG’s 2024–25 report discovered that the Madhya Pradesh Public Health Services Corporation Limited (MPPHSCL) was buying and giving out drugs that the Government of India has forbidden for human use. This put millions of people at risk and showed that drug regulation and monitoring are very weak.
This new scandal, which happened so soon after the Chhindwara disaster, has caused a lot of anger among the people and increased calls for the state’s health system to be held accountable and changed.