The Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) court case which has seen some nineteen parents who lost their children after consuming contaminated Indian drugs sue the government and two Pharmaceutical companies for over D285 million in damages has been postponed to 15th December 2023.
Presiding over the case at the High Court today 21st November 2023, Justice Ebrima Jaiteh encouraged the Plaintiffs and the State to settle the matter out of court and for the lawyers representing the parents to update the court on their progress in serving Maiden Pharmaceuticals in India to appear in court.
The first and second Defendants in the case, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, responsible for manufacturing the alleged contaminated drugs in India and their counterparts Atlantic Pharmaceuticals, responsible for distributing the alleged contaminated drugs in The Gambia are still yet to appear in court or file their defence.
Atlantic Pharmaceuticals located in The Gambia whose operations have been shut down by the Government have been served by the Plaintiffs to appear in court. To date, they have not appeared or assigned any legal representative to attend on their behalf.
The third, fourth and fifth Defendants in the case, the Medicines Control Agency, the Ministry of Health and the Attorney General were represented by Counsel Dinshiya Binga, the Director of Civil Litigation and International Law Department at the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Justice.
The legal representative for the Plaintiffs, Counsel Yassin Senghore updated Justice Jaiteh on their progress in serving Maiden Pharmaceuticals with a notice to appear before the court which was stalled due to an Indian holiday “Diwali”. However, she informed the court that an update could be made available to the court by the end of the week. She explained that a lawyer in India is assisting the Plaintiffs to serve notice to Maiden Pharmaceuticals via advertisements published in Indian media.
Our previous publication on the AKI case highlighted that a DHL Package serving notice to Maiden Pharmaceuticals was returned meaning that they could not be served.
Counsel Binga for the State informed Justice Jaiteh that the Attorney General has been making efforts to engage the Plaintiffs for an out-of-court settlement and requested that the case be adjourned to allow more time for a settlement to be reached. In response to this Counsel Senghore for the Plaintiffs confirmed that they have been approached for settlement.
Speaking to one of the Counsel for the Plaintiffs after the case was adjourned our medium has been informed that a meeting for out-of-court settlement will take place on the 30th of November 2023 and will feature 28 AKI Victims. Information received highlights that an additional 8 Plaintiffs will be added to the 19 Plaintiffs listed in the court case for the out-of-court settlement.
At the end of the court hearing, Justice Jaiteh ruled that the case stands adjourned to 15th December 2023 from 10 am and encouraged both parties to settle the matter outside of court. Justice Jaiteh also ruled that the counsel for the Plaintiffs will update the court on the progress of serving notice to Maiden Pharmaceuticals in India to appear in court via an affidavit and copies of the publications circulated in Indian media. On the other hand, the Counsel for the State will update the court on the outcome of the out-of-court settlement.
It can be recalled that over 73 children died between June 2022 and April 2023 after consuming contaminated drugs from India.
The story below is the previous court case on the AKI legal proceedings.
AKI Court Case Postponed as Maiden & Atlantic Pharmaceuticals Fail to Appear
The court case between bereaved family members of the Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) outbreak vs The Gambia Government, Maiden Pharmaceuticals and Atlantic Pharmaceuticals was heard on 7th November 2023 and postponed to 21st November 2023.
Presiding over the court case at the High Court was Justice Jaiteh. The case was to be heard at 2:30 pm today, however, only the Counsel for the State and the plaintiffs were present. Due to the fact that Atlantic Pharmaceuticals and Maiden Pharmaceuticals were not present the case was postponed to ensure that Maiden Pharmaceuticals was duly served to appear in court.
It can be recalled that from 2022 to early 2023 it was alleged that some 73 children died after consuming drugs manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals in India and distributed by Atlantic Pharmaceuticals in the Gambia.
The Gambia’s National Assembly conducted an investigation and recommended actions to be taken to address the situation. In addition, the President instituted a Task Force which published their report and recommended sacking two senior staff at the Medicines Control Agency.
Atlantic Pharmaceuticals has already been shut down and has been duly served to appear but failed to do so. Meanwhile, efforts are underway to ensure that Maiden Pharmaceuticals are duly served in India to ensure that they appear in court. Information reaching Gainako indicates that Maiden Pharmaceuticals was sent a DHL Package serving them documents to appear in court, however, the package was returned.
Representing the Ministry of Health, the Medicines Control Agency and the Attorney General was Counsel Dinshiya Binga, meanwhile, representing some 19 AKI Victims was Counsel Yassin Senghore. Given that the two Counsels were present and Maiden and Atlantic Pharmaceuticals were both absent the case proceeded earlier than expected from 2.00 pm and a decision was made to adjourn the case to 21st November 2023 at 1 pm.
More to follow on the Defence filed on behalf of the state.
Yusef Taylor, commonly known as Flex Dan is an editor and practising journalist based in the Gambia with a keen interest in human rights, the economy and good governance among many others.
He continues to break news on the economy, human rights violations and is highly engaged in security sector reforms, constitutional reform and the transition of the Gambia from dictatorship to a democracy, the NewGambia.
Yusef has been working with Gainako as a media practitioner from 2015 to date. He has a degree in Civil Engineering with 5 years of Design Consultancy experience.