Islamabad: Five more people have died in Gujranwala area of Pakistan’s Punjab province after drinking a “poisonous” cough syrup, taking the death toll to 40 in nearly two months.
Quoting sources in the Civil Hospital, Gujranwala, 80 km from the provincial capital of Lahore, the Express Tribune reported today that more than eight patients are in critical condition.
With the death of five more people, the toll has climbed to 40 in nearly two months, the report said.
The tainted Tyno cough syrup had claimed nearly 20 lives, a majority of them drug addicts, in Lahore last month, after which pharmacy stores holding stock of this medicine were sealed and some people were arrested.
All the recent victims had also reportedly consumed the same cough syrup in which ‘dextromethorphan’ has been identified as an active ingredient.
The Gujranwala City District team, along with police, had conducted raids in medical stores throughout the city.
Around 8,765 syrup bottles had been confiscated from 96 medical stores out of a total of 224 which had been raided in the area, the report said. (PTI)