Litia Cava 
The Health Ministry is unaware of any potentially fatal cough syrup being in circulation in Fiji.
However, the Ministry has cautioned that it could have entered the country outside of normal approval processes.
This comes after the Ministry issued a warning regarding a potentially fatal cough syrup that has been detected in the South Pacific region.
The medication, known as ‘Trillium Guaifenesin Syrup’ or ‘TG Syrup’, contains ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG), both of which are toxic and can lead to severe health issues, including death.
The syrup, which is manufactured by QP Pharmachem Ltd in India, has been identified as substandard and dangerous by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), medical devices, and product quality laboratories.
Toxic effects of the medication can include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, an altered mental state, and acute kidney injury.
The World Health Organization has also reported several incidents of over-the-counter cough syrups for children being contaminated with high levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in at least seven countries, resulting in over 300 fatalities, with most victims being young children under the age of five.
