ISLAMABAD: The government of Punjab has not been able to acquire a tuberculosis (TB) vaccine for two months and has now written to the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS), informing it that this may leave children more vulnerable to TB.

The centre has also been told that Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) syringes needed for their treatment had not been supplied by the federal Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) for at least a year now.

NHS Secretary Ayub Sheikh told Dawn that the syringes, which were only recently purchased, would be sent to the provinces within a week and were currently being tested in the laboratory to check their quality. However, he denied that there was a shortage of the BCG vaccine.

The BCG vaccine is primarily used to combat tuberculosis. In countries where tuberculosis is common, one dose is recommended for babies, as close to birth as possible.

The letter, written by the Punjab District Health Services and available with Dawn, claims that the province had not received its due share of the BCG vaccine for December and January from the federal EPI Cell.

“This has led to stock out position in the province. The higher authorities have taken strict notice of the current situation because it will make the target children vulnerable to tuberculosis,” the letter says.

“BCG syringes are also not supplied by federal EPI cell since last one year. You are hereby requested for the supply of BCG vaccines and syringes at the earliest.”

An official from the NHS ministry said there was severe shortage of the vaccine in the hospitals across Punjab.

“Every month, around 600,000 vaccines are provided. In case of any further delay, children will become vulnerable to the disease. Other provinces are also facing a similar situation so the ministry should take immediate steps to address the issue,” he said.

NHS Secretary Ayub Sheikh said that though the BCG vaccine was in short supply internationally, Pakistan had sufficient stocks.

“According to the records available with us, there is no shortage of the vaccine in Punjab. But we will look into the matter nevertheless,” he said.

“As far as BCG syringes are concerned, their procurement has been completed and the syringes have been sent to a laboratory for quality testing. As soon as we get the report back from the laboratory, we will send stocks to each province,” he said.

Mr Sheikh said that the ministry had been considering purchasing the vaccine and syringes from Unicef instead of the “local commercial lobbies”.

“There are so many formalities in floating tenders and even procurement is delayed because of court cases. On the other hand, Unicef carries out procurement for as many as 70 countries. So not only can we get the vaccines and other related items at comparatively lower rates, we can get them without any delay,” he said.

However, this would mean asking for special permission to do away with the rules of the Pakistan Procurement Regulatory Authority, he said.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2016

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