India plans red warning labels, pictures of school-aged children on cough syrups to ban use by children under 4 | Today’s news
Doctors view
“…as a pediatric pulmonologist, I often see young children receiving cough and cold syrups unnecessarily. Cough is a symptom, not a disease. In most young children, an acute cough is caused by a viral respiratory infection and improves with time, hydration, and supportive care. Suppressing every cough with medication is neither necessary nor always safe. Proposed strong warning — “WARNING: Cough prophylaxis should not be used in children under 4 years of age.” Limiting packaging images to older school-aged children is also important. Parents often interpret a picture of a small child on the bottle as a sign that the drug is safe for that age group,” said Dr Dhiren Gupta, senior consultant and co-director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi.
