Police Name Afi Farma, Samudra Chemical Suspects in Children's Kidney Failure Case
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17 November 2022 21:48 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) has named PT Afi Farma and CV Samudra Chemical as suspects in cases of acute kidney failure in children. Police's PR chief Insp. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said that the two companies were responsible for the circulation of syrup drugs that contained harmful substances Ethylene Glycol (EG) and Diethylene Glycol (DEG) above the safe threshold.
Dedi said that CV Samudra Chemical is a supplier of Propylene Glycol (PG), the raw material for making syrup drugs produced by Afi Farma. In a joint examination with the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM), investigators found 42 drums of PG in CV Samudra's warehouse. After being tested by the Central Police Forensic Laboratory, the PG contained EG that exceeded the threshold.
Speaking at the Police Headquarters on Thursday, November 17, Dedi said that based on police investigations Afi Farma did not check and test the PG they bought from CV Samudra before using it to make the syrup medicine.
"The company only copied the data provided by the supplier without conducting tests and quality control to ensure the material is safe to use for production," Dedi said.
Dedi said investigators had also questioned 41 people in this case. "Thirty-one witnesses and 10 experts."
PT Afi Farma is charged with violating Law 36/2009 on Health and Law 8/1999 on Consumer Protection and is now facing up to a sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of Rp2 billion.
