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The employee of a pharmacy in Depok City removes the liquid medicines from the range
Photo: Bagus Indahono/EPA
Indonesia has temporarily banned the over-the-counter sale of all liquid medicines after the mysterious deaths of about 100 children.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the children, most of whom were under five, had died in the past few months as a result of kidney damage.
"Investigations by the ministry found that infants suffering from acute kidney injury had ingested three dangerous chemicals -- ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol butyl ether," Sadikin said.
The three substances came from impurities in non-hazardous polyethylene glycol (PEG).
This is used in many liquid medicines to allow better solubility of the ingredients.
In total, more than 200 cases of acute kidney damage have been reported in 20 provinces of the island state since January.
The number has increased significantly since August.
A high number of unreported cases is possible, according to the minister.
Parents whose children urgently needed medicines in the form of syrup were urged to see a pediatrician.
Similar cases in The Gambia
Just a few days earlier, India halted the production of cough syrup at a Maiden Pharmaceuticals factory after 69 children in Gambia died, allegedly from contaminated cough and cold syrups.
Authorities had previously inspected a Maiden factory in the state of Haryana and found numerous violations of normal manufacturing practices.
The company supplies its products to Asia, Africa and Latin America.
In Indonesia, too, the affected drugs are products from Maiden Pharmaceuticals.
In the country, a team of experts is to investigate the matter.
Experts are already talking about the worst incidents of this kind in connection with medicines from India.
The country is known as the »pharmacy of the world«.
bam/dpa