SHC wants new hepatitis vaccine tender floated

Karachi
The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday quashed contracts worth Rs250 million procured from multinational companies for the Hepatitis B and C vaccines for the year 2014-15, and directed the health department to float the tender afresh in accordance with the laws.
The direction came on a lawsuit, filed by Getz Pharma, challenging the transparency of the tender acquired by the Hepatitis Prevention and Control Programme for supply of medicine, vaccines and medical equipments despite an injunction against awarding a contract to multinational companies.
The plaintiff company, which also participated in the bidding, submitted that its products Unipeg and Ribazole were eligible and entitled to the highest points in evaluation but the programme manager accepted the technical bid of the plaintiff for Ribazole but declined the other product citing that it was not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The plaintiff’s counsel submitted that the reason for rejection of the plaintiff’s product was an allegation as the approval had nothing to do with the eligibility criteria of the tender.
The counsel added that the product had undergone all kinds of tests and was being exported to various countries.
The additional advocate general submitted that although FDA’s approval was not a condition in the tender but according to the High Court’s order medicine in violation of FDA could not be approved.
The defendant’s counsel argued that the case had no standing as the balance of inconvenience was not in favour of the plaintiff since the contract had already been awarded to companies. The single bench headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui observed that the conduct of government officials was doubtful throughout the process as the medicine rejected was being prescribed by a number of leading doctors and hospitals of Pakistan.