RECENTLY 19 people died after taking an allegedly poisonous cough syrup, i.e. Tyno.

This is pathetic and the persons responsible should be taken to task. Let us have a glance over what could be the possible factors responsible for this incident.

First, there was no quality control at the factory that manufactured the syrup. The government drug inspector did not check the quality of medicine properly.

This is not the first incident of substandard medicine killing people. This also happened a few months ago when several people died in the Punjab Institute of Cardiology due to intake of substandard medicines.

Next, when the medicine came to the wholesaler, no one checked the date of its expiry.

If they are claiming that the victims of the cough syrup were druggies who had taken the syrup in large quantity, the question arises as to why they provided them syrups in such a large quantity without the doctor’s prescription.

To avoid such sort of incidents in future we must adopt the following steps:

First, there should be proper inspection in manufacturing laboratories regarding the quality and quantity of medicines. The government drug inspector should fairly fulfil his duties.

Second, the wholesaler should check the expiry date before receiving the drug from the manufacturing company. Next, a common practice in our society is that the retailer never bothers to check the doctor's prescription.

It should be a law that no retailer will provide any sort of medicine without the doctor’s prescription as is practised in Europe and the US as a matter of routine.

Last but not least, there should be a registered pharmacist in every medical store who must examine the medicines properly and decide how much quantity of the medicine is required for the patient concerned.

AYESHA ASIF Lahore