Media Run demands justice for AKI child victims

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By ADAMA MAKASUBA

The popular Media Run challenge has issued a statement to demand unalloyed justice for 70 children who died of the deadly Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) as a result of Indian made cough syrup.

The group’s demand came as The Gambia is brought in the global spotlight after World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a global alert over a bad cough syrup manufactured by an India-based Pharmaceutical company, Maiden.

The death of the children have outraged thousands of Gambians both at home and abroad who are demanding for the immediate resignation of the nation’s health minister, Dr Amadou Lamin Samateh and a full swing of investigation into the scandal to bring the culprits to justice.

The Media Run is an initiative to challenge media workers to take part in physical exercise by organising a run where colleagues run to burn calories and keep fit twice every month.

Rights activists have also condemned the government over the deaths of the children and urged the victim families to sue the government for “negligence” causing the irreplaceable life loss of their children.

But, The Gambian President, Adama Barrow has promised that his government will leave no stone unturned in getting to the root of matter.

Meanwhile, in their weekend runs graced by media workers and Gambians from other professions last Sarturday dedicated their run challenge to mourn the children and demand justice for them.

In a statement read out by one of the members, Abdoulie Jawo, said their membership join the call for justice for the innocent children who lost their lives from AKI.

“We have learn that there is an ongoing police investigations, however we applaud the efforts of the police and we are urging them to speed up there investigation and spare no one. We also learned that there were 50,000 units of medicinal syrup, of which the Health authorities said they have recalled over 41,000. However, over 8,000 units are still unaccounted for. The probe established that the Medicine Control Agency, MCA was established by the Medicines and Related Products Act 2014. At the time it started product registration in 2017, there were thousands of unregistered products in the country,” Jawo said on behalf of the Run.

“This was due to a lack of testing facilities in The Gambia and the exorbitant cost involved in outsourcing the testing, this is indeed worrying.

Jawo said they were informed that there is an ongoing international medical investigation in collaboration with the WHO, and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) of the United States of America and Africa, looking into the medical causes of the AKI deaths among children in The Gambia and related medical matters.

“As member of the press we join the call for a rapid investigation”, he stressed.