At least 16 people, all young men from the Shahdra area in Lahore, have died after drinking the Tyno cough syrup, that was purchased from the same medical store. Many of those hospitalised are stated to be in a critical condition. It may be noted that cough syrup is quite often used as an intoxicating agent in the absence of alcohol or other drugs of a similar nature. Due to this, reputable pharmacies are reluctant to sell it in larger than normal quantities. But of course, in our cities, where there is little accountability of any form, almost every medication can be bought without a prescription and by anyone. This has led to mishaps in the past as well.
It is ironic that the incident in Shahdra has occurred days after a new law, intended to check the sale and manufacture of spurious medications, came into effect. This latest tragedy is a reminder of the need to implement the law as swiftly and effectively as possible and educate local administrations about its presence. We have, as yet, few details about the incident or the actual cause of death. It needs to be tested and determined whether the liquid itself was toxic or if this was, in fact, a case of massive overdosing by a group of random people desperate to slip into a state of drug-induced comfort. All this will be revealed in the much-awaited report by the health department.
Whatever the case, steps are required to avoid the repetition of such incidents. The lives of young people have been lost and unless laws are implemented and stricter ethics enforced among drug sellers, the frequency of such incidents is only bound to increase. The authorities concerned need to revisit the methods employed for production of such medicines and this situation needs to be urgently reviewed in the wider context. Measures need to be adopted to protect the most marginalised in our society. Such people do not deserve to die from the consumption of an agent which is in fact supposed to make them feel better in the first place. This would be the second major incident in Punjab and the government should work ever so hard to curb such malpractice.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2012.
COMMENTS (7)
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Such a typical Pakistani habit of exagerating and not just being objective. I suppose that all the cough syrop in the US and Europe should have stamped on it, "bottled death" too? Do you people not realise that thousands of people die in the US every year from abusing prescription medications and syrops.
more death expected, God forgive us all.
Absolutely unethical and immature behaviour by ET
Its simply beyond my understanding that ET in its November 27, 2012 news titled "Nothing wrong with Tyno cough syrup, victims overdosed: Report" clears the misunderstanding (still avoiding apology) and false hype created by themselves in the last 3-4 days and subsequently allows an editorial titled "BOTTLED DEATH". It is worth mentioning that if you read all other online news you will find out that 95% of the content is word to word same on all websites which shows all newspapers are simply copy pasting from each other without any fact finding whatsoever. Cheap popularity channels like city 42 create negative hype about any incidence without any facts and all other channels rush to defame anyone any everyone coming their way. Its high time all media channels stand up to an apology as all reports have cleared the product of any toxic elements. The manufacturer should sue all media channels for defamation which will be the only way to teach them a lesson to investigate first and then report. Extremely unfair and unethical behaviour displayed by our immature media. Wake up everyone and sign here for ET to change the title atleast now when everything has been cleared to avoid further damage to the company and the product
Nice editorial - but one might argue that regardless of how much time/energy/money you throw at the problem so long as you have addicts your going to have overdoses.
They are not deserve to die, and the responsible for their untimely death,are not desreve sympaty and concession in punishment.
Is there no warning on the bottles? Most medicinal related purchases will kill you if you take enough of them. The people who usually end up dying are taking too much intentionally and are well aware of possible consequences. They just want more of it and end up pushing their luck too far. It's not a matter of mistakes. It's a matter of intentional stupidity. They know what they're doing and they know they're not supposed to. It might be cold, but they might just be helping out with cleaning up the gene pool.