The Ministry of Communication and Informatics will help the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) to conduct cyber patrols to oversee the circulation of syrup drugs.
“We will fully monitor and assist BPOM to protect the public from syrup drugs, with high toxic elements,” Minister of Communication and Informatics Johnny G. Plate stated here, Wednesday.
Plate explained that his ministry routinely conducted cyber patrols with other institutions. During this patrol, the ministry will help BPOM to oversee the circulation of syrup drugs to anticipate acute kidney disorders in children.
Head of BPOM Penny Kusumastuti Lukito noted on Monday that there were several drugs circulating on the e-commerce platform that did not meet the safety requirements set by her agency.
“There are 1,400 links that we have to follow up as part of the BPOM cyber patrols,” Lukito remarked.
Until now, the BPOM has announced five drug brands that are considered ineligible, as they contain ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG) compounds that exceed the threshold.
The Ministry of Health also found at least 102 types of syrup drugs that had been consumed by patients with acute kidney disorders.
The hundreds of drugs are being investigated by BPOM to see the level of EG and DEG content in the syrup.
As of October 24, the Health Ministry found 255 cases of acute kidney disease in children from 26 provinces. A total of 143 patients died or equivalent to 56 of the total number of cases.
Results of the investigation showed that cases of acute kidney disorders were caused by syrups containing these compounds.
The Jakarta Health Service, on October 24, 2022, had received 90 reports of cases of acute kidney disorders in children, with almost 50 percent of the patients having died. In addition, the health service opened information services regarding acute kidney disorders through cellular numbers belonging to 44 community health centers (puskesmas) in the city.
In a bid to treat the patients, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin reported that his ministry had brought Fomepizole medicine from Singapore and Australia to cure acute kidney disorders patients at the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital as a referral hospital for this disease. He said that patients receiving Fomepizole injections started to show improvement and were in a stable condition.
Source: Antara News