Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Minister Sanjay Rathod on Friday informed the state assembly that the Maharashtra government inspected 84 companies manufacturing cough expectorants, of which 17 have been issued show-cause notices, four others have been instructed to stop their production, and licences of six have been terminated.

Sanjay Rathod’s response in the assembly came after BJP MLA Ashish Shelar said, “The World Health Organisation pointed out that 66 children may have died after consuming the cough expectorants that were exported from India owing to the harmful ingredients in them. Later, it was mandatory to export medicines manufactured within the state after conducting the stability test. But it has been found that in February 2023, as many as 2,000 medicines manufactured by over 200 drug manufacturers in the state were being exported without any kind of stability test certificate.”