ISLAMABAD, June 13: The Lahore High Court has restrained the Ministry of Health from directly procuring vaccines for the Expanded Programme of Immunization through the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) as this is in violation of the official Public Procurement Rules 2004.

In their verdict on an inter-court appeal filed by the Pakistan Medical Association’s Rawalpindi/Islamabad chapter, Justice Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah and Justice Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq ruled that the Ministry of Health should follow the Public Procurement Rules 2004 for procurement of vaccines for the Expanded Programme of Immunization from July 1, 2007.

"They (the health ministry) would also ensure that the medicines are supplied strictly in accordance with laws applicable in Pakistan, including the Drugs Act 1976 and the rules framed there under," the judgment further said.

Health ministry officials had earlier assured the Lahore High Court bench that they would abide by their previous undertaking before another bench regarding their willingness to comply with Public Procurement Rules 2004.

The judges emphasized that the undertaken given by the health ministry before the single-member Lahore High Court bench and reiterated before them should be honoured.

The health ministry annually procures vaccines for the Expanded Programme of Immunization worth Rs 700 million through Unicef. The Expanded Programme of Immunization targets six diseases — polio, measles, BCG, diptheria, tetanus and pertusis — among children.

Unicef meets around 40 per cent of the global demand for children’s vaccines. It annually procures billions of doses of vaccines for nearly 100 developing countries. The UN agency had been into the business of supplying vaccines on the pretext of overcoming temporary vaccine shortages, which it claims is becoming a global problem.

The Pakistan Medical Association’s appellants had contended that the respondents (health ministry) were procuring medicines for Expanded Programme of Immunization directly through the UN agency by violating the Public Procurement Rules 2004 and the procedures laid therein.

The petitioners had informed the court that the health ministry despite its assurance before the single-member bench of the Lahore High Court of abiding by official procurement rules continued to violate them.

Furthermore, their contention was that the health ministry had procured non-registered vaccines, which constituted violation of the Drugs Act 1976.