No respite from drug reaction; 2 more die

LAHORE – Two more heart patients lost their lives at different health facilities in the City on Friday due to reaction of free medicine provided free from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, taking the death toll till today to 104.
Munir Ahmed (66), a resident of Burki, breathed his last at Ghurki Trust Hospital while Muhammad Gulab (60) died at Mayo Hospital.
Secretary Health Punjab Jehanzeb Khan has constituted a 14 member committee of senior pharmacists headed by Drug Inspector Bilal Yaseen to prescribe alternative drugs after taking suspected medicine from the patients at the Out Patients Department at the PIC. Malik Imran, Muhammad Zubair, Shahid Waris, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Nazar and others would prescribe the alternative medicine at the health facility to avoid inconvenience to the visiting patients. 
Meanwhile, special wards set up for heart patients affected by PIC medicine at all major public sector hospitals in the province failed to draw the attention of senior consultants.
Mostly PG trainees and junior doctors continued to provide healthcare facilities to the serious patients.
According to the spokesman of Health Department, as many as 33 patients affected by PIC medicines have recovered and discharged from various hospitals during the last 24 hours, increasing number of recovered patients till today to 274.  So far 191 have been discharged from Services Hospital, 32 from Jinnah Hospital, 25 from Mayo Hospital, 23 from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and 03 from Lahore General Hospital.
At present, 254 patients are still under treatment at various hospitals of Lahore including 90 in Services Hospital, 76 at Mayo Hospital, 52 at Jinnah Hospital, 19 at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, 11 at LGH, 04 at Shaikh Zayed Hospital and one at Ghurki Trust Hospital. Moreover, two patients are under treatment at Allied Hospital Faisalabad.
The spokesman further stated that 82 deaths due to reaction of medicines have been confirmed so far.
However, a report regarding death of one patient each at Services Hospital, Mayo Hospital and Ghurki Hospital during the last 24 hours has been received.