Pakistan: Counterfeit drugs: Faking people out of their lives

When Qasim returned home on the eve of November 26, he told his mother and brother that he was not feeling well. He said the cough syrup he drank was making him very drowsy and went to his room to sleep. A few hours later his mother checked on her son, she saw his mouth filled with foamy spit and his eyes red and gory. They took him to a hospital, where he started vomiting uncontrollably. Suddenly his breathing stopped and he died a few minutes later. Qasim will never breathe again. Similar incidents occurred with Waleed and Ramzan. The mothers of all three told Pakistan Today that they had lost their sole bread-winners. “There will be no repercussions for the ones responsible. Everyone is involved, everyone is corrupt. They’ll give money to the police and roam free. Only God will take my revenge,” said Qasim’s mother talking to Pakistan Today. The death toll on account of use of toxic cough syrup has risen to 18, as two more people died on Tuesday. The dead were all drug addicts who took the cough syrup as a substitute for the expensive intoxicants. Three pharmacies have already been sealed and their owners have been arrested. The police have been conducting raids on different medical stores and shops of drug distributors. THE ‘LEAST EXPENSIVE’ INTOXICANT: Akram, a drug addict, told Pakistan Today that cough syrup is the least expensive intoxicant and is available for Rs 60. “Two cigarettes of hash cost Rs 120 and heroine for a single use use costs Rs 100. Cough syrup is the least expensive and it keeps you high for around 24 to 36 hours,” he said. He further said that although the actual price of the syrup is Rs 40, “the shopkeepers sell them to us on a higher price because they know that we want to use them as an intoxicant.” WHO NEEDS PRESCRIPTIONS? A head of a welfare society in Wahdat Colony, Sikander Hayat said that there should be checks and balances on unlawful medicine. “Concerned officers should restrict medical stores from selling any medicine without the prescription of the doctor,” he said. He said that societies should form teams to keep the people informed regarding unlawful medical stores operating in the region. Owners of the Shadman Medical Store told Pakistan today that there are many cough syrups in the market but those which are used as intoxicants include Benadryl, Hydraline and Tyno. When questioned whether the medical store asks for prescriptions, he answered, that it is not possible to ask for prescriptions from each and every customer. “If we start turning back people without prescriptions, how will we feed our families? It is the duty of the government to seal unlawful medicine manufacturers,” he added. THE GOVT THAT ALWAYS ACTS, AFTER THE DISASTER: Owner of a medical store on Mozang Road said that he failed to understand why the government always acted after the disaster happened. “Now they’ll close a couple of factories to show the people that they have caught the culprits. This happens every two years,” he said. He told Pakistan Today that in order to increase the level of intoxication and to make them tastier, multiple ingredients are added to the cough syrup. “Some of these are Super Lecithin, Echinacea, Ant Tart 30C, Calcium Carbonate, Peppermint, Peppermint oil, tutti frutti flavour and colour,” he added. SITUATION ‘TOO COMPLICATED’ TO HANDLE: Meanwhile, the District Drug Controller Shaukat Wahab said that it was very difficult to catch all the culprits. “Manufacturers of herbal and homeopathic medicine do not require a license. People use this as a cover and start making unlawful medicines. However, we are trying our best to catch the criminals and have already sealed a number of medical stores and factories,” he said. SEAL AND CLOSE: District Coordination Officer (DCO) Noorul Amin Mengal, while talking to Pakistan Today, said that he had ordered the Punjab Health Department, drug inspectors, and officials of Punjab Police to start raids against stores selling illegal and fake medicines. He said until now, seven factories and innumerable medical stores had been sealed after they were found to be producing and selling fake and expired medicines. THE ‘INNOCENT’ DRUG COMPANY: Talking to Pakistan Today, an official of Reko Pharmacal, the manufacturer of Tyno said, that the company had been made a victim of a media trial without proper investigation into the issue. He said that the active ingredient in Tyno, dextromethorphan, was a widely-used ingredient in cough syrups world over. It is a safe anti-tussive/cough suppressant if used as prescribed and its recommended dosage is 5ml (10 mg) every five to six hours – the dose in Tyno-SF. “The instructions on the Tyno-SF bottle label, the maximum patient dosage should not exceed 20 ml in 24 hours,” he said, adding that the preliminary report had already shown that nobody could die of consuming Tyno, unless taken in large quantities and with an added intoxicant. He said that Reko had been making the drug since 1978 and had not received even a single complaint in these 34 years, adding that the drug was being used all over the country and an isolated incident in Shadara could not be used to impose a ban on the company and its drugs.