Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that more than 100 heart patients had died in and out of various hospitals from reactions to a dubious drug distributed by the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), outlining the scope of the catastrophe, now in its fifth day, that has caused widespread panic. In a strange move, the chief minister revealed figures that were a lot more than the ones reported to the media by the Health Department. Shahbaz told reporters after a meeting held to review the measures taken to overcome the situation that the drug samples had been sent to drug testing laboratories in Britain and France through two responsible people and action would be taken upon receiving the lab reports.
He said three different samples of the drug had been prepared which included one sample from the hospital stocks, one from under-treatment patients and one from the medicines retrieved from the families of those who had died from the reaction to the drug. The chief minister also said he had chaired a meeting in which the detailed figures of deaths had been presented to him, according to which more than 70 people died in hospitals while nearly 20 people lost their lives out of hospitals, not just in Lahore but in other areas of the province as well. He said that government teams were also investigating this incident and as soon as the investigation report was received, it would be brought before the people. Replying to a question, Shahbaz said manufacturing and import of medicines was the responsibility of the federal government despite the 18th Amendment. Meanwhile, relatives of the victims protested outside the PIC and demanded action against those responsible, as PPMA employees protested against their factories being sealed without waiting for the lab reports.
Over 100 dead and counting
