The Pakistani authorities are investigating claims that cough syrup has killed 33 people in the past three days.
The deaths occurred in the industrial city of Gujranwala. The city official Abdul Jabbar Shaheen said, “We have received 54 patients at hospital who said their condition deteriorates after taking cough syrup.”
Shaheen said that the victims’ stomachs contained dextromethorphan, a synthetic morphine derivative used in cough syrup that can have mind-altering effects if consumed in large quantities. Officials are investigating to determine whether the victims were affected by too much syrup, or whether there was a problem with the medicine itself.
The victims were aged between 20 and 40 and most had a history of drug addiction, local hospital chief Anwar Aman said. Shaheen said that some people in the city produced cough syrup particularly for drug addicts, and the officials were trying to arrest them.
Officials temporarily closed one pharmaceutical company based in Lahore and the samples of cough syrups at local pharmacies have been collected and sent to laboratories.
This is the second time in recent months that medicine is suspected of causing multiple deaths. Last month, at least 19 people were killed in Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, after drinking toxic cough syrup sold under the brand name Tyno.
