Photo: kun.uz
An eight-year-old girl from Uzbekistan, Muslima Ziyoboyeva, who was left severely disabled after taking the Indian-made cough syrup Doc-1 Max, has died. The tragic event occurred on July 3, her father Ilkhom Azimov confirmed to Gazeta.uz.
Muslima was born in 2016 in the Jizzakh region and would have turned nine on August 22. According to court documents, in December 2022 a doctor prescribed her Doc-1 Max to be taken three times a day. Shortly afterward, her kidneys failed and she lost the ability to urinate. She was first hospitalized in Jizzakh, then transferred to the National Children’s Medical Center in Tashkent. En route, Ziyoboyeva fell into a coma and regained consciousness only a week later.
Despite treatment, she was classified as a Group I disabled person, the most severe category. During court proceedings related to the Doc-1 Max case in November of last year, her parents testified that she could not stand, walk, or speak, and that the cost of her care exceeded 10 million Uzbek soums (about $800) per month. By then, total expenses had surpassed 1 billion soums (roughly $79,000).
Now, as of July 3, Muslima has died. Officially, she is the 69th victim of the deadly medication.
According to Gazeta.uz, although a court ruled that victims of the Indian syrup should receive compensation, many families say they have yet to receive any funds. Parents of children who were left disabled are demanding immediate payments to ensure access to necessary treatment, warning that their children’s conditions could worsen without care.
Gulchekhra Murodova, an employee of one of Tashkent’s courts, explained that the verdict has not yet taken legal effect because some defendants appealed the decision in December 2024. The appeals process took time, and in June of this year, the Tashkent City Court upheld the original ruling. The case was then returned to the Uchtepa District Court, which passed on the compensation orders to the Bureau of Compulsory Enforcement. That body is now responsible for distributing the payments.
Between fall 2022 and January 2023, child deaths began to be recorded across Uzbekistan due to the use of Doc-1 Max syrup, manufactured by the Indian company Marion Biotech. According to the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan, the batch distributed in the country was found to contain ethylene glycol.
The State Security Service reported that laboratory testing of Doc-1 Max had violated regulatory protocols, which allowed the toxic syrup to enter the market. At an October 2023 court hearing, it was revealed that the manufacturer and its Uzbek distributors had paid large sums to doctors and pharmacists to promote the drug locally.
At a hearing on January 5, authorities announced that the number of children who had died after taking the syrup had risen to 68, with additional victims left disabled. A total of 23 individuals were charged in the case.
On February 26, the head of the syrup’s distribution company, Indian national Raghvendra Pratar, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Sardor Kariyev, former head of Uzbekistan’s Pharmaceutical Industry Development Agency, received an 18-year sentence. Two of his deputies were sentenced to 16 years each, and a third to 16.5 years. The remaining defendants received lighter punishments.
