By: Ousman Saidykhan
National Assembly Committee on Health, Disaster, Refugees and Humanitarian Relief has recommended the government of The Gambia sue Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd after finding them blameworthy over the deaths of about seventy (70) Gambian children to Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) linked to their products.
“The Select Committee is convinced that Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is culpable and should be held accountable for exporting the contaminated medicines that were linked to the death of at least 70 children in The Gambia in 2022.
“The government should pursue legal action against Maiden Pharmaceuticals for exporting contaminated drugs to the Gambia with the Atlantic brand name,” said the Chair of the Committee, Amadou Camara while presenting the Committee’s inquiry report on the Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) among children.
The Committee has also recommended the MCA blacklist Maden Pharmaceutical’s products and ban all their products in the Gambia.
The Committee’s investigation reveals that all the cases of AKI are linked to the consumption of contaminated medical products imported by Atlantic Pharmaceuticals and manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceutical Ltd, India. However, it indicates that Atlantic pharmacy in The Gambia had followed all regulations for the importation of medicines including the batch that had been contaminated.
The Committee blamed the Gambia’s lack of a quality control lab for the delay in getting the test results linked to the substandard syrups. They have been informed by the government that the World Bank is sponsoring the construction of a modern quality control lab, according to their report.
“The Select Committee, therefore, recommends the government through the Ministry of Health to intensify efforts to complete this task as quickly as possible bearing that it is a requirement under section 50 of the Medicines and Related Products Act 2014. The Committee further recommends at this stage to establish the laboratory under the control of [Medicines Control Agency] MCA as it is the international best practice,” the committee recommends.
The select committee has also recommended that the Health Ministry continue with its sensitization in local languages about the risks of self-medication and consumption in an unregulated market.
