Lahore: Contaminated drugs kill 70

At least 70 people lost their lives and 400 others critically affected over the past three weeks due to defective heart drugs in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

According to British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the death toll increased since Tuesday when the officials reported death of 36 people since the start of the month due to cardiovascular problems.

The authorities have arrested the owners of three local pharmaceutical companies believed to have supplied the infected drugs to government-run Punjab Institute of Cardiology which gives free heart drugs to about 600,000 heart patients annually.

At the same time, it is deemed that the batch of contaminated drugs might have been given to around 40,000 people since mid of last month. Officials said that the contaminated drugs cause a rapid depletion of white cells and blood platelets in the recipients.

BBC quoted the parliamentary health secretary for Punjab, Saeed Illahi, as saying that that about 400 heart patients were ill from taking the drugs. About 100 had been admitted to hospital, with many of them still in a critical condition. He also added that drug samples have been sent to London and Paris for further investigation.

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