Hyderabad paediatrician Dr Sivaranjani Santosh refuses pharma legal notice

Hyderabad paediatrician Dr Sivaranjani Santosh refused to comply with legal notices from two pharma companies over her social media posts criticizing high-sugar ORS beverages. She cited FSSAI orders and her duty to public health as justification for maintaining her posts.

Hyderabad: Senior paediatrician from Hyderabad Dr Sivaranjani Santosh, on Wednesday refused to comply with a legal notice that was issued by two major pharmaceutical companies. The well-known public health speaker, who has been waging a fight for more than 8 years against companies selling beverages with high sugar content marketed as ORS, said that her advocacy is not driven by commercial motives.

Sharing more details about the legal notices, which were sent to her by two pharma companies, Dr Sivaranjani said that the drug companies demanded she remove all social media content related to their products ORSL and ERZL within seven days. The companies alleged that her posts, particularly those questioning the use of sucralose in ERZL, were unscientific and false.

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The notices claimed that the paediatrician’s social media posts were aimed at boosting her social media following of nearly 9,00,000 users.

Dr Santosh maintained that her fight is for the cause of public health and pointed out that her concerns were vindicated by the FSSAI’s October 2025 orders, which prohibited products from using the term ORS unless they meet the specific WHO-recommended formula.

“My criticism was about the misbranding and not that the liquid inside was adulterated. Moreover, even the Delhi High Court declined to stay the FSSAI’s order,” Dr Sivaranjani said.

Refusing to take down her social media posts, she said it was her constitutional right to free speech and a professional duty to warn caregivers about products that may be confused with medical-grade ORS. While the pharmaceutical companies maintained that their products (ERZL) were fully compliant and safe, Dr Santosh pointed out that marketing ERZL as the ‘new ORSL’ misled the public.