RAWALPINDI, Jan 26: Cardiac patients of the Rawalpindi district who received the same drug from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) that has killed over 100 patients in Lahore have fortunately escaped the worse.

Only one of the 56 patients who got the drug, Soluprin, from the PIC late last December suffered a reaction and is under watch in the District Headquarters Hospital in Rawalpindi.

“Mohammad Ishaq (the patient) is admitted to the High Dependency Unit of the hospital and is in a stable condition,” Dr Ghulam Abbas on duty at the unit, told Dawn on Thursday.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Saqib Zafar said the Punjab government had sent a list of 55 cardiac patients of the district to trace them out and take back the drug the PIC had dispensed them from the same stock that brought death to heart patients.

A search for them found that nine had thrown away the drug after the scandal of it being fake broke and 26 surrendered theirs supply.

“Ten among the 55 had consumed the drug. Strangely, only one of them suffered adverse reaction. The rest nine are medically fit,” Dr Zafar Gondal, the executive district officer (health), added while talking to this reporter.

The EDO said after the drug scandal at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, the health department asked its inspectors to check all the stock in government and private hospitals and pharmacies and remove such medicines.

“The team found drug (Soluprin) at the Tehsil Headquarters Hospitals in Taxila and Gujar Khan and asked the administrations to immediately destroy them,” the official added.

He said the batch number of the drug at Taxila and Gujar Khan was different from the fake medicines that caused the death of over 100 patients in Lahore. The provincial government has ordered removal of only those contaminated drugs which wereconsumed by the cardiac patients who died in Lahore.

“It is not our authority to remove all the drugs of that company. An inquiry has been launched and the ban on drugs of the company would be implemented later.”

He said the health department had started surprise visits to more than 2,600 licensed and non-licensed chemist shops in the district.

Strict action will be taken against those found keeping fake and contaminated drugs, the official warned.

The EDO said the health department would soon launch a campaign through the media to create awareness among the people about fake drugs.