BEIJING, May 29 (Reuters) - Families of Chinese patients killed by a fake medical ingredient maker linked to widespread deaths in Panama have sued the southern Chinese hospital that gave toxic injections, local media said on Tuesday.

The Panama deaths and claims of fake or tainted ingredients from China in a string of other products have raised international alarm about the safety of the country's exports.

The 10 plaintiffs include family of patients of the Zhongshan University Number Three Hospital in southern Guangzhou city killed by tainted medicine, the China News Service reported, citing Guangzhou newspapers.

The reports did not say whether the plaintiffs included other patients who survived the injections.

They are demanding more than 20 million yuan ($2.6 million) total compensation after the hospital gave injections of fake Armillarisni A, made by the Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., based in the country's northeast, a lawyer for the hospital told the Information Times, a Guangzhou paper.

The Qiqihar company used a fake syrup supplied by a manufacturer in the eastern province of Jiangsu -- the same supplier whose toxic ingredients killed at least 100 people and possibly many more in Panama, according to the New York Times.

The court case underscored how Chinese citizens are also exposed to such dangers, even in prestigious hospitals like the one sued.

"These incidents have exposed serious problems in the production and distribution of medicines," the Information Times cited one of the plaintiffs' lawyers as saying in the hearing that began on Monday.

"One of the implications of this case is to track down and block up these loopholes."

The deaths occurred in April and May last year. Investigators found that 64 patients received the fake Armillarisni A, including 13 whose deaths were "strongly associated" with the infections.

A lawyer for the hospital said it should not bear the blame for the toxic injections. Doctors had checked the documentation for the injection serum as rules required, the lawyer told the Tianhe district court in Guangzhou.

"If all sue the Zhongshan Number Three Hospital, the amount [demanded] could well rise to over 100 million yuan," a lawyer said.

The Qiqihar company had its production licence revoked and was fined millions of dollars, Chinese media reported last year. Company executives were also detained, but no arrests have been reported.

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