Wanted Her to Be a Doctor”: 8-Month-Old Fatima Among 22 Children Killed by Toxic Cough Syrup in Madhya Pradesh
A father’s dream turns to grief as 8-month-old Fatima becomes the youngest victim of MP’s toxic cough syrup tragedy — a crime, not an accident.
Eight-month-old Sahrish Ali Fatima has become the youngest victim of the Madhya Pradesh contaminated cough syrup tragedy that has claimed 22 young lives, all under the age of five. Speaking to Barkha Dutt, her father Sayed Ali, a taxi driver from Chhindwara, recalled the night his daughter suddenly fell ill after being prescribed a locally purchased cough syrup by a neighborhood doctor. Within hours, her condition worsened and she was rushed from Chhindwara to Nagpur — but it was too late.
The syrup, later found to contain 46% DEG (diethylene glycol) — a deadly chemical allowed only up to 1% — proved fatal. Ali’s voice breaks as he says, “Who do I get angry with? I’m a small man. My daughter is gone.” His wife remains hospitalized, unable to cope with the loss.
Ali said he dreamt of seeing his daughter grow up to become a doctor — a cruel irony, given that medicine itself took her life. While the Madhya Pradesh government has promised financial aid and initiated arrests of those behind the spurious drug, Ali’s plea is simple: “There should be strictest punishment so no other family suffers like us.”
Concluding the emotional conversation, Barkha Dutt remarked that this was no accident but a crime, demanding accountability and justice for every lost child.
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