DRAP, NIH directed to ensure availability of anti-rabies vaccine

ISLAMABAD: Federal Ombudsman Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi has directed the heads of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) to ensure fast-track availability of anti-rabies vaccine at the government hospitals of ICT, shunning all bureaucratic bottlenecks in this regard.

It may be recalled that in response to a public complaint received recently, the ombudsman took a serious notice of unavailability of this essential vaccine at Islamabad’s government hospitals and summoned the senior officials on January 9 to unearth the root cause of the situation.

The federal ombudsman had also directed the DRAP to conduct a thorough probe as to why the NIH was not manufacturing this essential vaccine.

As a follow-up measure, the office of federal ombudsman immediately issued a notice to both these organizations i.e. NIH and DARP. The registrar of the Wafaqi Mohtasib initiated a probe into the matter.

It was revealed that apart from lengthy official procedures, bureaucratic delays, gross negligence, mismanagement and fluctuation of the dollar rate resulted in this unfortunate situation.

He has directed that responsibility may be fixed for the shortage of this essential vaccine and necessary steps may be initiated for avoiding recurrence of such incidents in future.

The matter is being vigorously followed up by the office of the Wafaqi Mohtasib and all the stakeholders have assured that they would spare no efforts in this regard.