ISLAMABAD: The heads of the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) were instructed by Federal Ombudsman Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi on Sunday to act quickly to ensure that anti-rabies vaccines are quickly available in government hospitals located in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and to eliminate any bureaucratic obstacles that stand in the way of this.
Recall that on January 9, 2024, he summoned the senior officials of both of these organizations to determine the cause of the situation after receiving a public complaint in his office. He took serious notice of the fact that this necessary vaccine was unavailable in Islamabad’s government hospitals.
As a follow-up, the Wafaqi Mohtasib office promptly sent notification to the DARP and NIH, and the Wafaqi Mohtasib Registrar started an investigation into the situation. It was discovered that this sad circumstance was caused by a variety of factors, including protracted official procedures, bureaucratic delays, egregious carelessness, mismanagement, and fluctuations in the dollar rate. He has given the order to assign blame for the shortage of this crucial vaccination and to start taking the required actions to prevent similar occurrences from happening again in the future.
The Office of the Wafaqi Mohtasib is actively investigating the problem, and all parties involved have pledged to exert maximum effort in this respect.
