Nigerian federal government on Thursday reported the deaths of 84 children between the age of two months and seven years from the contaminated "My Pikin" teething mixture, the Lagos-based Punch newspaper reported on Friday.
? Babatunde Osotimehin, Nigeria's Minister of Health disclosed this in Abuja, noting that since the case broke in November 2008, the number of deaths had continued to rise just as the number of cases reported in hospitals had increased to 111.
The minister ordered the immediate surrendering of the deadly product by all drug pharmacies, government medical stores, patent medicine stores, clinics, and hospitals in the country to the nearest office of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
He said the federal government was deeply concerned about the number of deaths and would leave no stone unturned in getting to the root of the matter.
He asked all mothers and the public to immediately stop giving the medicine to their children since it was not a prescription medication and was poisonous for the well being of their children.
The immediate past Director-General of the National Agency for NAFDAC, Dora Akunyili, admitted at a news conference in Lagos soon after the accident in November 2008 that the teething mixture allegedly caused the death of the children.
According to her, the contamination of the mixture was caused by the addition of a chemical, diethylene glycol, to some batches of the drug, which resulted in kidney failure in the children.
(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2009)