Madhya Pradesh: Wife of doctor who prescribed cough syrup linked to death of 25 children arrested

The Madhya Pradesh Police has arrested the wife of a doctor who is in jail for prescribing a cough syrup that purportedly led to the death of 25 children in the state, The Hindu reported on Tuesday.

The deaths that took place over the past two months in the state came after the children allegedly consumed a substandard cough syrup named Coldrif.

The doctor, Praveen Soni, had been arrested on October 5 for allegedly prescribing Coldrif to the children. He was a paediatrician at the Civil Hospital in Chhindwara’s Parasia town and also had a private practice, the police had alleged.

Jyoti Soni, the wife of the paediatrician and the proprietor of a pharmacy at his private practice in Parasia, where most of the children were prescribed the syrup, was arrested on Monday, The Hindu reported.

Parasia Sub-Divisional Officer of Police Jitendra Jaat told The Hindu that most of the Coldrif syrup bottles had been purchased from Jyoti Soni’s pharmacy.

The officer added that Jyoti Soni had been presented before a court on Tuesday, which remanded her to police custody for three days. “We will now question her for further details,” The Hindu quoted Jaat as saying.

Apart from Madhya Pradesh, deaths had also been reported from Rajasthan. Several children, who had been suffering from fever and cold, consumed the Coldrif syrup, resulting in vomiting and difficulty...

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