Month after she took Coldrif syrup, 4-yr-old dies in Nagpur hospital

“They had taken a photo of the old prescription and bought a new bottle. In villages, people often reuse old prescriptions to avoid extra doctor visits,” Narendra Vishwakarma, Ambika’s uncle, told The Indian Express.

Ambika was given two to three doses of the syrup before she began complaining of severe stomach pain and uneasiness around September 12-13. She was first taken to Chhindwara, where doctors administered saline and discharged her. As her condition did not improve, the family consulted another doctor in the area, who admitted her again on September 13.

By then, Chhindwara authorities had already begun investigating Coldrif-related deaths, but the Vishwakarma family was unaware of this.

The treating doctor, Dr Pawan Nandakar, noticed Ambika’s kidneys had stopped functioning. He ran a test, and immediately referred her to Nagpur. She was admitted to New Health City Hospital on September 14, where she remained on life support for nearly 27 days.

Narendra Vishwakarma, said the family managed to clear the hospital bills only after administrative assistance and was preparing for her last rites on Wednesday.

Dr Ashish Lothe, professor, Department of Paediatrics, who was one of the doctors involved in Ambika’s treatment at the Nagpur hospital, said the child had been fed via ryles tube and on dialysis.

“Her kidneys had started to recover, but there was no neurological improvement. The brain had stopped responding. Sometimes, the family misinterpreted small movements as signs of recovery, but those were abnormal spasms,” Lothe said.

When asked about her cousins surviving the Coldrif consumption, Dr Lothe said the batch would definitely have been different. The contamination would have been in one batch.

He added that Ambika’s blood pressure and heart rate had begun fluctuating in the last few days due to brain-related autonomic disturbances.

“She was a fighting child. Unlike others who died within a few days, she survived almost a month on the ventilator. We tried everything, but the toxin is very strong and damages both kidneys and the central nervous system,” Dr Lothe said.

Doctors in Nagpur treating Coldrif-affected children have formed a collective to coordinate treatment and share updates. “It is heartbreaking for all of us. We were trying hard to ensure at least some of the children survived,” said Dr Lothe.

Ambika’s family initially sought treatment from Dr Arvind Jain (not Dr Praveen Soni, which was common in other cases) before being referred further. They have handed over one empty and one half-filled bottle of Coldrif to the Drug Inspector team for examination.

With Ambika’s death, the number of fatalities linked to Coldrif has risen further. According to doctors, two more children from Madhya Pradesh remain critical and are still on life support in Nagpur.

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