ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan’s health ministry has scrapped the vaccination arrangement for pilgrims and overseas workers run by Border Health Services and arrested the officials behind it, after an inquiry ordered by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif found serious flaws in a contract that pushed the cost of jabs up more than threefold.
Health Minister Mustafa Kamal confirmed that the vaccination process for religious pilgrims and overseas job seekers had been halted and that all Border Health Services officials involved in floating the tender had been arrested for bypassing the ministry, Dawn reported. “I can assure that they will be fixed for keeping the ministry in the dark,” he said. “I will not tolerate any attempt to defame me.”
Until a new tender is floated, pilgrims have been told to arrange their mandatory vaccinations through their travel agents. The ministry plans to issue a fresh tender for meningococcal meningitis and influenza vaccines for overseas travellers within a month.
Rs4,500 a jab
The inquiry was triggered by allegations that the public-private partnership contract raised the cost of vaccination to about Rs4,500 per pilgrim, against roughly Rs1,250 per dose under the previous arrangement. Seven companies have also challenged the bidding process in the Islamabad High Court.
A five-member committee chaired by the Cabinet Division secretary, which included the Intelligence Bureau chief, the head of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan and the head of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, found that Border Health Services had set up its own procurement committee in June, a month after the ministry formed an official one, and floated the tender on its own. A senior ministry official told Dawn the tender had wrongly been run under procurement rules rather than the rules for public-private partnerships.
Saudi Arabia requires pilgrims to be vaccinated against meningitis, and Pakistan has made digital proof of vaccination linked to NADRA records compulsory for Hajj and Umrah travellers since September 15.
