GBA, FLAG and NHRC Urge Government to Take Legal Action for Death of 69 Children

By Oumie Mendy,

The Gambia Bar Association (GBA) and the Female Lawyers Association (FLAG) urged the government to leave no “stone unturned” to ensure legal action is taken against those found wanting in the investigation of the untimely death of 69 children in early October 2022.  Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) wrote a letter addressed to the Ministry of Health (MoH) recommending that the government implements remedial measures to address the situation and responds within 30 days.

According to the World Health Organisation, the death of at least 69 children under the age of 5 years was due to substandard, contaminated cough syrups manufactured by an Indian company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals. As reported by Gainako on Sunday 9th October 2022 the drugs, manufactured only for export have been supplied to the Gambia for the last two decades.

In a statement released on Monday 10th October 2022, GBA and FLAG have demanded answers as to how substandard, contaminated medications manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals were imported and distributed in the country, bypassing all the health institutions mandated to regulate medicines in the Gambia.

Independent Inquiry to Ensure Accountability

The two-page press release noted that the importation of pharmaceutical products in The Gambia is regulated and administered by the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) in accordance with the Medicines and Related Products Act 2014. “The GBA and FLAG are gravely concerned that contaminated pediatric medicinal products were imported into the country from a manufacturer whose reputation and credibility according to widely available public records is dubious. We trust that it is the responsibility of the body charged with regulating the pharmaceutical industry to ensure that the quality and standard of drugs imported into the country are safe for human consumption,” the statement reads.

“The GBA and FLAG are calling on the Government (as duty bearer) to take its responsibility as the primary protector of the citizenry to investigate this tragic incident and thereafter take steps to ensure appropriate measures are taken to hold those responsible accountable,” added the statement.

The two legal institutions urged the Government to create an Independent Inquiry with multiple stakeholders and experts, including the NHRC, to provide answers to the public and the bereaved families. The inquiry is recommended to shed light on at least five different points including how the medications were imported and distributed in the country, the measures currently in place for medicine control and the effectiveness of the different health and regulatory institutions as well as plans to prevent such incidents from reoccurring.

Most importantly the statement ends with three demands for the government to “robustly pursue the Indian Manufacturer, Maiden Pharmaceutical Ltd — to ensure that the manufacturers are held accountable, and the victims are adequately compensated”.

The second demand is to “hold accountable any party or authority complicit in the importation, sale, and distribution of the substandard medications attributable to the deaths of the 69 Gambian children”.

Finally, the organisations called for the government to “leave no stone unturned to ensure there is accountability and justice for the victims of this travesty through the pursuit of legal action against the persons and institutions responsible for the importation and distribution of the substandard medicinal products”.

Legal Actions and Effective Remedial for Victims’ Families

Meanwhile, the NHRC wrote a letter addressed to the MoH highlighting their “grave concern” over the death of 69 children on 7th October 2022. The statement reiterated that “the right to life is inviolable and sacrosanct” and that the Constitution and the Children’s Act 2005 give children the right to the best attainable state of physical and mental health and to be provided the best attainable state of health”.

Taking into consideration some of the steps taken by the MoH the NHRC’s statement made 10 recommendations which they demanded a response on within 30 days to inform them “of the remedial measures” that the MoH will take to implement their recommendations.

The recommendations include sensitisation on the risk of the drugs, an investigation to “determine the level of distribution of the drugs across the country”, instituting more rigorous testing regimes for drugs, taking legal action against those found wanting and providing “effective remedies for the affected victims’ families”.