MP cough syrup horror: Death toll rises to 13 in Chhindwara as another toddler succumbs in Nagpur

In a heart-wrenching escalation of Madhya Pradesh's ongoing public health crisis, one-and-a-half-year-old Dhani Dehariya from Junapani village in Tamia tehsil breathed her last at Nagpur's Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), succumbing to acute renal failure triggered by the contaminated Coldrif cough syrup.

"This marks the 13th confirmed child fatality," Naresh Gonnade, Chief Medical Health Officer of Chhindwara district, told IANS.

However, he remained tight-lipped when asked if the death was linked to the toxic elixir, which has cast a shadow over the tribal heartland of Chhindwara district, claiming young lives aged between one and eight years.

However, the state government has not declared the exact number of deaths linked to toxic cough syrup.

Dhani, a frail girl batt