Cough syrup deaths: CM orders criminal investigation

Says Health Dept officials failed in their duties after Lahore deaths.

LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has ordered a criminal investigation into the deaths caused by Tyno cough syrup.

Addressing a meeting in Model Town, he said that a committee consisting of police officers and health experts should be formed to investigate. He said that departmental action would be taken against any government officials found guilty of negligence. The home secretary gave a briefing on the case at the meeting and presented his report.

The chief minister said that the loss of dozens of lives in Lahore and Gujranwala due to the cough syrup was a tragedy. The government would take action against those responsible for it. Those who displayed criminal negligence in this regard should be put behind bars, he said. Had the authorities concerned done their duty after the deaths from the cough syrup in Lahore, the further deaths in Gujranwala would have been averted. The Health Department appeared to have been negligent in this regard, he added.

He said that the Health Department must remove the flaws in the system and implement an effective system of checks to prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy. Action would be taken against officials who did not do their duties, he added.

He said that a testing system for raw material used in the manufacture of medicines was essential. Checks should be put in place from the manufacturing stage to the selling stage for medicines.

Chief Minister’s Special Assistant on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique, the health, law and information secretaries, the Lahore commissioner, the Forensic Science Laboratory director general and Dr Faisal Masood also attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2013.