It is gruesome to see that clinical trials for testing new drugs and therapies at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has claimed as many as 49 babies over the last two and a half years.

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It is gruesome to see that clinical trials for testing new drugs and therapies at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has claimed as many as 49 babies over the last two and a half years. Many of them had not even celebrated their first birthday. AIIMS response to a Right to Information query revealed that of the 4,142 babies, close to 3,000 was below the age of one and was enrolled for clinical trials by the institute's department of paediatrics.

The department conducted 42 sets of trials on babies during the period beginning January 1, 2006. In its reply, AIIMS said the deaths amounted to a 1.18 per cent mortality rate. The cost of conducting trials in India is 20 per cent to 60 per cent of the cost in industrialized countries.

The Centre asked the AIIMS director to order a high-level inquiry into deaths of 49 children during clinical trials even as the premier institute claimed the kids did not die due to any new drugs tried on them. Union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal told reporters that the issue came up for discussion in the Governing Body meeting and Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss asked the AIIMS Director to conduct a high-level inquiry into the matter and submit the report expeditiously.

The AIIMS administration, however, said all the 49 children were mortally sick and died naturally and not due to any drugs used in the trials. "We are very happy to announce that after an afternoon faculty review meeting of all available data, we found out that none of the deaths can be attributed to drugs," head of the Paediatric Department V K Paul said. Among the 49 kids, some were given clinical trial drugs and others standard drugs, he said.

In a reply to an RTI application, the AIIMS administration had said that as many 49 children have died during clinical trials of new medicines in the premier institute here during the past two-and-a-half years. A total of 4,142 children, of whom 2,728 were aged below a year, enrolled for the clinical trials of new drugs and therapies by the Department of Pediatrics since January one, 2006. Mounting pressure on the institute, Left parties and the Congress had demanded an inquiry into the episode.