Islamabad, Nov. 18 (EFE).- The government of Pakistan\u2019s Punjab province has banned the production and sale of five \u201calcoholic\u201d cough syrups after the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert following a complaint from the Maldives, officials said Saturday.<\/p>
The banned cough syrups, manufactured by Lahore-based Pharmix Laboratories (PVT) LTD, were found to contain high levels of alcohol.<\/p>
\u201cThe Punjab government has banned sale of five different cough syrups after WHO\u2019s investigation confirmed the presence of high alcohol content in these syrups,\u201d Sohail Janjua, a spokesperson for the provincial government told EFE.<\/p>
The official said the banned syrups were being sold in the local market besides being exported to regional countries.<\/p>
The WHO investigation was initiated as a result of a complaint about these syrups from the Maldives.<\/p>
The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has issued a recall of certain batches of liquid preparations due to suspected contamination with diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG).<\/p>
In September, the Pakistani authorities were forced to ban a drug made by Swiss pharmacist Roche but repackaged in Pakistan, after at least 60 patients from various areas of Punjab went blind after being injected with this medicine.<\/p>
Between 2022 and 2023, some 300 children died in the Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan allegedly caused by ingesting different cough syrups. EFE <\/p>
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