Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal has announced that the Prime Minister is making the vaccine procurement inquiry committee’s report public. Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, he said that the findings of vaccine procurement inquiry report are being published on the Ministry of National Health Services’ official website. Mustafa Kamal stated that the government had not spent a single rupee throughout the entire process. He said Rs183.055 million had been charged for the vaccines and that the entire amount had been deposited into NADRA’s account.

According to the minister, the financial loss was suffered by the vaccine supplier, not the government. He categorically denied reports of a Rs10 billion vaccine purchase, saying that the inquiry committee’s report also made no mention of any such amount. Explaining the background of the controversy, the health minister said Border Health Services (BHS) had established its procurement committee on June 10. Read more: How to obtain NADRA vaccination verification card for Hajj and Umrah Mustafa Kamal described the process adopted by BHS as a complete violation of procurement rules, explaining that standard procurement procedures and regulations must be followed when government procurement is undertaken.

However, he said Border Health Services had incorrectly applied the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework alongside procurement rules. The minister further revealed that a company had approached the court in connection with the matter. Following media reports concerning the vaccine procurement process, the Prime Minister constituted a high-powered inquiry committee to investigate the matter. According to Mustafa Kamal, the committee held Border Health Services responsible for the irregularities and found that BHS had kept the Ministry of Health uninformed about the process.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)