Indonesian Ministry of Health Detected Three Chemicals in that Caused Acute Kidney Injuries in Children

JAKARTADAILY.ID – The Indonesian Ministry of Health confirmed that they have detected three harmful chemicals in children that are suffering from acute kidney injury.

"The Ministry of Health has researched that the toddlers affected by AKI (acute kidney injury) were detected to have three hazardous chemicals (ethylene glycol-EG, diethylene glycol-DEG, ethylene glycol butyl ether-EGBE)," explained the Indonesian Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin in a written statement on Thursday, October 20, 2022.

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Budi stated that the three chemicals are widely used in syrup-type medicines.

"These three chemicals are impurities from a 'harmless' chemical substance, polyethylene glycol, which is often used as a solubility enhancer in many syrup-type drugs," he explained.

Head of the Ministry of Health's Communication and Public Service Bureau, dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi explained that the Ministry of Health has researched syrup drugs that are consumed and available at the homes of children under five with acute kidney failure.

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The drug was proven to contain EF, DEG, and EGBE, which should not be or have very little levels in syrup-based medicine.

For now, the Ministry of Health takes a conservative position by suspending sales of syrup medicines for the time being.

This is done while waiting for the results of the final research by the Indonesian Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM).

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"While waiting for the drug authorities or BPOM to finalize the results of their quantitative research. The Ministry of Health takes a conservative position by temporarily banning the use of syrup drugs," explained the Minister of Health.

"This is considering that toddlers identified with AKI have reached their 70s per month, with a fatality/death rate approaching 50 percent," he added.