Lahore: Spurious drugs provided to cardiac patients by a state-run hospital in Pakistan’s Punjab have claimed 67 lives – more than double the figure initially given by provincial authorities.
Punjab Health Secretary Jehanzeb Khan confirmed the total number of deaths while responding to a journalist’s query on Monday. Earlier, the Punjab government had confirmed the deaths of only 28 cardiac patients registered with Lahore’s Punjab Institute of Cardiology.
The PML-N government led by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has faced strong criticism for concealing facts related to deaths due to the bad drugs, which were distributed by PIC among poor and needy patients.
The Federal Investigation Agency launched a crackdown on Monday on the instructions of federal authorities, and arrested the owners of three pharmaceutical companies. FIA officials sealed these firms on charges of allegedly supplying spurious drugs which caused the deaths of patients and affected dozens of others. The administration of PIC faced an embarrassing situation when dozens of patients and their families assembled outside the hospital to protest the deaths. “We want action against the people responsible for the death of our father,” said Muhammad Hasan. He and his brother Muhammad Raza held a placard inscribed with slogans against the hospital’s administration and provincial government.
Officials of the FIA said they had taken action despite resistance from the Punjab government. “Seeing the non-seriousness of the provincial government in taking action against the persons responsible for the deaths, the federal government directed the FIA to go in for direct action,” said a senior official. (PTI)
