PIC medicine disaster: Punjab government unbans 4 drugs

Patients have been told to use the medicines, which were cleared by labs in Lahore, London and Switzerland.

MULTAN: The Punjab government has removed a ban on four of five medicines that patients were prohibited from using following the deaths by fatal reactions from free medicines distributed by the Punjab Institute of Cardiology.

After investigations showed that a medicine named Isotab was the culprit in the hundreds of tragic deaths, the other four proscribed drugs (Alenolol, Solprin, Concort, Cardiovastein) were cleared for use.

The Punjab health department issued a notification on Friday, allowing not only usage but also storage and procurement of the four medicines.

Samples of all five medicines, including Isotab, were sent to drug-testing labs in Lahore, London and Switzerland. All three reports confirmed that Isotab samples contained a higher anti-malarial component than permitted. Patients had died due to this anti-malarial medicine named Pyrimethamine.