Years ago, a child arrived at Dr. Sivaranjani Santhosh’s clinic. The child was severely dehydrated after relentless diarrhea. The mother looked helpless and exhausted. When Dr Santhosh made inquiries, she was even more puzzled. The mother had been given the child ‘ORS’ or Oral Rehydration Salts, that should have helped the child. Instead, it made his diarrhea worse. Further investigation led her to the culprit – the brightly packaged drink that the family thought was life-saving ORS, picked up from a local pharmacy, was actually doing the child more harm than good. What the family was thinking was ORS, was actually a sugary juice, misbranded as ORS.
Sugary drinks masquerading as ORS
This wasn’t an isolated case; it was a crisis repeating itself across India. For years, major beverage manufacturers had been exploiting a loophole, marketing sugary juices, some containing nearly ten times the required sugar, under the trusted “ORS” label. This wasn’t medicine; it was poison in disguise, its high sugar content actively worsening diarrhea and dehydration in the most vulnerable.
The eight-year long fight
For eight long years, Dr. Santosh fought this epidemic of deception. She raised alarms, she posted viral videos, and, when all else failed, she took the fight to the courtroom, filing a Public Interest Litigation against corporate giants whose “morally and ethically questionable” practices risked children’s lives for profit. She was met with skepticism and legal resistance but she persisted.
Eight years later, it paid off. In a landmark victory for public health, the FSSAI issued a final, unyielding directive. They banned the use of the term “ORS” on any product that did not strictly adhere to the precise, life-saving balance of salts and glucose set by the World Health Organization. Dr Santhosh posted a teary-eyed video – her fight had finally been worth it and made a real change.
The new order ensured that the word “ORS” was reserved exclusively for true medication. Dr. Santosh’s solitary crusade had culminated in a decisive win, securing the integrity of a critical life-saver and protecting countless children from the dangers lurking in a sweet, deceptive package. It was a testament to the power of one dedicated healer who refused to let corporate greed undermine the simple, undeniable right to effective medicine.
ORS is a simple solution to a very big problem. Globally, an estimated 13 percent of children under five years of age die due to diarrhea and ORS can truly be life-saving for them. But it is important that ORS is administered to them based only on the WHO-recommended formula. WHO’s ORS is a fixed-ratio combination of glucose and electrolytes that’s scientifically proven and has saved millions of children’s lives from diarrhoea.
Dr Sivaranjini Santhosh’s fight isn’t over yet. One of the companies approached the Delhi High Court to vacate the ban on them selling their fake ORS drinks so they could sell inventory worth Rs 180 crore.
This means the misleading packs are still available in the market. So make sure next time you need ORS to fight dehydration or diarrhea, especially for children, read the pack to check its ingredients. Another key factor is the price. The price of ORS salts has been capped in India and sachets usually cost less than Rs 22 (Re1.1 per gram of salt where one packet tends to contain over 20 grams of powder).