The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued a notice to the Punjab government and sought a reply within a week on a petition seeking a judicial inquiry into a recent spate of deaths allegedly caused by Tyno cough syrup and the sale of narcotics and spurious drugs.
Justice Sheikh Najamul Hassan was hearing the petition moved by the Trade Welfare Organisation of Tollinton Market Lahore through Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique.
Siddique said many heart patients had died in 2011 after taking contaminated medicines obtained from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC). He said several people died in Shahdara after consuming Tyno syrup. He said causalities from spurious medicine had become routine in the Punjab and no one was paying attention to this issue. He said contaminated medicines had been sold in the country since its creation. These medicines caused deaths time and again, but there was no check on them, he said.
He said it was the court’s duty to ensure the protection of fundamental rights of citizens awarded to them by the Constitution of Pakistan.
The judge said the courts ensured the protection of basic rights of masses, and that he would give a verdict on this petition that would be helpful in curbing the business of spurious medicines.
Siddique urged the court to summon Anti-Narcotics Force officials to explain the “shocking increase” in the sale of narcotics. He also sought implementation of the Pakistan Drugs Regulatory Act 2012 and the hiring of more drug inspectors.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2012.
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