PIMA unhappy with govt’s policy on Covid vaccines

Islamabad : The Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) has expressed deep concern over the government’s decision to allow private sector import of Covid vaccines, uncontrolled price of the vaccines, and a slowdown in the vaccination process, and has called for steps to ensure import of vaccines by the government sector alone, continuation of its campaign to vaccinate health workers, and speeding up of the vaccination process.

In a statement issued here on Friday, the Central President of PIMA Dr. Khubaib Shahid said, providing health facilities to people is the primary responsibility of the government and that its supervision of import of Corona vaccine is the most important need of the time. He noted that the whole process of importing and distributing vaccines at the government level was not only slow but also highly unorganized. He stressed the need for legislation to keep the vaccine within the purchasing power of the common man and to prevent black marketing. He regretted that an artificial scarcity had been produce but no concrete steps are being taken by the government to halt the process. According to him, the vaccine price introduced in Pakistan is many times higher than the fixed price of the vaccine in the global market.

Khubaib said, the government should import vaccines directly and provide them to people at affordable prices. He regretted that the government is not taking the issue seriously. He said, even today, a large number of doctors and medical professionals have not been vaccinated.

PIMA urged the government to speed up the vaccine process because in the current situation, it could take many years for the entire population to get vaccinated. He also demanded that the vaccination process be free of all pressures, political and regional affiliations, and personal interests, etc. He lamented that people are not taking precautions due to which the increasing number of Corona patients is putting pressure on national health facilities .He pointed out that space in wards is running out, and it is high time the public showed responsibility and seriousness, lest the situation gets out of control.