Two companies that distributed a toxic cough syrup that killed more than 200 children have been order by an Indonesian court to pay compensation to each family whose child died or was injured after taking the medication.
More than a dozen families of victims sued the government, health ministry and companies accused of supplying the products, demanding nearly $US200,000 ($294,000) in damages for each death and $220,000 for those injured.
In a ruling, the Central Jakarta district court found a drug maker and a supplier, Afi Farma and CV Samudera Chemical, at fault in the poisonings.
The health ministry and the country’s food and drugs agency (BPOM) were cleared of wrongdoing.
Suspicions were first raised about the cough syrups in 2022 when children began to get seriously ill after taking what their parents thought were everyday medications for cold.
When some of them died, the government ordered the withdrawal of syrup-based medicines from sale and revoked the permits for more than 1,000 such products.
