Indian drug regulators found that Maiden Pharmaceuticals broke rules across its manufacturing and testing activities. As a result, the manufacturing activities of the company have been halted. Earlier, the World Health Organisation had issued an alert against the company for not providing guarantees to the WHO on the safety and quality of its products. Also, four contaminated syrups of the company could be potentially linked to the deaths of 66 children in Gambia. Now that investigations are continuing, and lapses have already been identified, the Indian pharmaceutical company may be held accountable. But this case should not be seen in isolation. It is an opportune time to locate this problem in India. The incident has exposed loopholes in the drug regulatory framework in the country. Some are wrongly touting it to be a wake-up call for the industry. The lives and safety of children — whatever part of the world they come from — is not an apt compensation for waking someone up! If the charges are proven, licenses should be revoked and stringent actions must be initiated. Such actions become pertinent on two grounds. First and foremost, the kins of the dead children in Gambia deserve speedy justice. Secondly, India's reputation as a pharmaceutical giant needs to be kept intact. To meet both these ends, a strong message needs to be delivered, urgently. It is not the right time to float excuses around the failure of the existence of regulatory checks at multiple points. The mistake, if ascertained, needs to be admitted honestly. Be it for a company, an industry or a country, honesty is the basic prerequisite for crisis management. Notably, India's pharma exports to Africa stood at USD 3.83 billion in FY22 — almost one-sixth of the total exports to the continent. Also, 'Businessline' reported that Africa accounts for 15.66 per cent of total pharma exports; and about 45 per cent of Africa's generics market valued at USD 8 billion is from India. Interestingly, Africa is the third largest market of pharmaceutical drugs for India — after the United States and the European Union. The current crisis not only has the potential to cause disruptions in the African market, but it can also affect other markets, including the ones pertaining to the EU and the US. Immediate crisis management exercise can offset a part of damage but, certainly, there is a long way to go in rebuilding an environment of trust and confidence. There are some pertinent issues that need to be addressed by the earliest. The first one relates to India's membership of the International Council on Harmonisation. It has been debated for quite a long time. The move can raise India's drug regulation framework a notch higher — making it more stringent and globally accepted. Then there are recommendations of the Rajesh Bhushan committee, which aim to overhaul India's drug regulatory framework. These recommendations need to be considered in the right earnest. At a more basic level, experts have been arguing for a long time for a change in the appointment process of the Drug Controller General of India. The independence of the regulator is sought to be achieved through an overhaul. Additionally, clear guidelines around the procurement of raw materials need to be put in place, and regulatory checks that lie on the Indian side need to be carried out with great sincerity and precision. Under present circumstances, the government should also allay the concerns of the pharma industry. The industry is apprehensive about the likely fallouts it may face in the near future. But above everything, one's heart goes out to the relatives of deceased children. Medicine is something that even the most illiterate ones trust so blindly. In the tough times of multiple health crises we are living in, medical practitioners and medicines are tied with a sentiment of hope. This hope cannot be allowed to die down.