Safeguard the public health

Twenty people recently lost their lives after drinking toxic cough syrup in the heart of Pakistan’s second largest city Lahore. It was the second recent major drug related tragedy in Lahore as only months ago more than 150 people lost their lives after using fake heart drugs.

The death of such a large number of people has shocked the nation, but no one has yet been brought to justice because most of the victims were members of a very poor community. A factory manufacturing fake medicine has been closed in the country’s largest city Karachi, but overall the government has failed to prepare strict laws against such places. On the other hand, here in the Kingdom the health authorities have closed a large, well-known hospital in Jeddah after medical errors led to the death of some patients.

Tough laws and the correct procedures are necessary in hospitals and pharmacies to safeguard the lives of ordinary people. Unfortunately, only a few countries enforce such strict measures, whereas in other nations not much value is placed on human life. Uneducated and untrained people run most of the pharmacies in Pakistan even in big cities like Karachi and Lahore, and without a doctor’s prescription you can buy any type of medicine. 

Khawaja Umer Farooq, Jeddah