LAHORE: The Lahore High Court instituted a judicial inquiry on Monday at the request of the Punjab government into the death of over 100 cardiac patients as a result of reaction to medicines provided to them.

The chief justice nominated Justice Ijazul Hasan for the inquiry. He has been authorised to ascertain the causes of deaths and fix responsibility. He will also recommend measures for averting such tragic incidents in future.

The Supreme Court has also taken suo motu notice of the matter and summoned the attorney general, the Punjab advocate general and inspector general of police, the FIA director general and the federal and provincial health secretaries on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, another three patients died reportedly of a similar reaction to drugs, raising death toll to 117.

According to sources, Rahat Jehan, 60, of Mustafa Abad, and Haji Yasin, 70, of Gujranwala, died in the Services Hospital and another patient who had got medicines from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology died in Vehari.

The health department, however, claimed that only 92 patients registered with the PIC had died in various hospitals in the province.

According to a spokesman, 386 cardiac patients are admitted to various hospitals, 65 in Jinnah Hospital, 22 in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, 187 in Services Hospital, 14 in Lahore General Hospital and 86 in Mayo Hospital. Three patients are under treatment in Allied Hospital in Faisalabad and four in Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore.

The spokesman said three patients had died in Lahore in the previous 24 hours — two in Services Hospital and one in General Hospital.

STRIKE CALL: The Punjab chapter of the Young Doctors’ Association withdrew its strike call on Monday morning after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) released PIC Medical Superintendent Dr Jafar Saleem at about 3am after hours-long negotiations with representatives of the association.

The YDA had threatened to extend their strike from the provincial government’s health institutions to hospitals in Islamabad after the arrest of Dr Saleem by the FIA.

The medical superintendent was arrested on Sunday for interrogation about the drugs scandal. YDA’s representatives, however, said both the provincial and federal governments could take departmental action against doctors and officials of the PIC or any other institution found negligent after an investigation.