At least eight men have died and a dozen others are in a critical condition after drinking adulterated cough syrup in Pakistan’s Punjab province, officials said today.
The deaths were recorded in Gujranwala district, 80 km from the provincial capital of Lahore.
The tainted Tyno cough syrup had claimed the lives of 20 men, a majority of them drug addicts, in Lahore last month.
Farid Aslam, a doctor at the Gujranwala District Hospital, confirmed that those who died had consumed Tyno cough syrup.
Most of those who died or were admitted to hospital were young men who used the syrup to get intoxicated.
In spite of the deaths in Lahore being highlighted by the media, the syrup was being sold without prescription at medical stores across Punjab.
After drinking the syrup, the men fell unconscious and were brought to hospital. Doctors referred some of them to Mayo Hospital in Lahore.
Relatives of some of those who died alleged that many medical store owners were selling the “killer” syrup without asking for prescriptions.