Indonesia court orders firms to pay families of cough syrup victims

A court in Indonesia has ordered two companies to pay thousands of dollars in compensation to the families of more than 200 children who were killed or injured by tainted cough syrups.

The Southeast Asian country registered in 2022 a spike of child deaths and injuries linked to the syrups.

More than a dozen families of victims sued the government, health ministry and companies accused of supplying the products, demanding nearly $200,000 in damages for each death and $150,000 for those injured.

In a ruling late Thursday, the Central Jakarta district court ordered the local firms to pay a substantially lower fee of $3,200 for each death and $3,800 for each injury.

"It's saddening to see the ruling. The compensation is so much lower," said Nedy Amardianto, who lost his 10-month-old daughter Aisha to acute kidney injury.

"The loss of a child cannot be replaced with money. But we had hope the judge would take our side."

The father and a lawyer representing the families expressed disappointment the court made no statement about any alleged wrongdoing by the country's health ministry and drug regulator, both included in the lawsuit.

"It is deeply disappointing for the victims' families. What we are demanding is accountability from the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency," said lawyer Siti Habiba.

A health ministry spokeswoman said it had to review the decision. The drug regulator did not respond to an AFP comment request.

The father and lawyer said the sanctioned firms were supplier CV Samudera Chemical and cough syrup producer Afi Farma.

The former distributed ethylene glycol, a compound used in industrial products such as antifreeze.

Afi Farma's chief executive and three employees were jailed last year over accusations they did not properly test their products.

The firms were listed in the ruling as "defendant 1" and "defendant 3".