By Special Correspondent
Bhopal: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh has launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP government, alleging rampant corruption and negligence in the state’s health administration following the deaths of 26 children due to a toxic cough syrup, Coldrif.
Addressing a press conference in Bhopal, Singh said the tragedy reflected “criminal negligence and moral decay” in governance. Laboratory tests found 48.6 per cent diethylene glycol (DEG) in the syrup — nearly 486 times the permissible limit of 0.1 per cent. “It was nothing short of poison being sold as medicine,” he said.
Singh accused the State Health Society, chaired by Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav and co-chaired by the Health Minister, of turning a blind eye despite being directly responsible for monitoring drug quality and public-private partnerships in healthcare.
He also raised sharp questions for Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, demanding to know why DEG contamination continued even after the fatal Gambia (2022) and Uzbekistan (2023) incidents. Singh cited reports showing that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) inspected only nine per cent of pharmaceutical units, of which 36 per cent failed quality standards.
Criticising the Jan Vishwas Act 2023, which replaced jail terms for substandard drug production with a Rs 5 lakh fine, Singh alleged that the BJP government received Rs 945 crore in electoral bonds from pharmaceutical firms, many of which had failed quality tests.
Calling for a CBI investigation, Singh demanded accountability from both the state and central governments, warning that fake and substandard drugs were costing the exchequer Rs 52,000 crore annually and leading to thousands of preventable deaths.
“The government has traded public health for profit,” he concluded.
