ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Regulations and Coordination Dr Nausheen Hamid on Monday informed the National Assembly during question hour session that a total of 55,508 persons have being vaccinated so far in the country to save them from the Covid-19.
Responding to various supplementary questions of the members, she said in Pakistan, the initial results for safety and efficacy are very promising and meet the World Health Organization (WHO) standards for authorisation and use, CanSinoBio Covid-19 vaccine showed 74.8 percent efficacy in preventing symptomatic cases, and a 100 percent success rate in stopping severe disease among Pakistanis in an interim analysis.
In written replay to a question, she said the five accredited research centers selected for vaccine trial include Shifa International Hospital Islamabad, Indus Hospital Karachi, Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Center, and University of Health Sciences, Lahore.
She said the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has allowed the Chinese company to conduct Phase-11 clinical trial on humans after successful preclinical trial on animals, and clinical trial phase-1&II on humans in China.
“The said vaccine is Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine (Adenovirus 5 vector) Ad5-nCoV has been developed jointly by CanSinoBio and Beijing Institute of Biotechnology in 2020. The trial of CanSinoBio vaccine was conducted in Pakistan, Mexico, Russia, Argentina and Chile,” she said in written reply.
Answering another question, the parliamentary secretary said there is an understanding that the Chinese company, CanSinoBio, will provide half a million doses initially to Pakistan on priority basis followed by bulk supply.
She said other companies have been contacted for vaccine availability including Sinopharm, CanSinoBio, AstraZeneca, Sputnik, J&J and Pfizer. Pakistan has applied for COVAX facility grant to provide vaccine to 20 percent of its population.
She said from COVAX facility grant, we have applied for vaccine for 45 million of the population free of cost.
The negotiations with the companies are under process for quantity and price, she said. She said the federal government is providing financial resources for the implementation of Sehat Sahulat Programme in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Islamabad Capital Territory, district Tharparkar of Sindh, and merged districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), while Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments are implementing the programme from their own financial resources.
She said, so far, 10.11 million families across Pakistan are being provided hospitalisation services under the programme.
She said Sindh government should also provide health cards to the people.
“There is ‘Dako Raaj’ in Sindh and the provincial government is not paying attention to the health of the people.” Dr Nausheen Hamid said the programme has not been implemented in districts of Balochistan and Sindh due to non-contribution of annual health insurance premium by respective provincial governments.
On this remarks of the parliamentary secretary, the PPP strongly protested and stood from their seats.
The harsh words were also exchanged between the treasury and opposition members during the situation.
Railways Minister Azam Swati also informed the house that Pakistan Railways is going to upgrade the Main Line-1 (ML-1) track from Peshawar to Karachi under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), enabling the train to ply at a speed up to 160 kilometres per hour.
He said the track would be fenced from both sides and level-crossings will be converted to overhead bridges or underpasses to prevent accidents in order to protect human lives.
However, he said the matter of bullet train is not under consideration at this stage.
The minister said the Ministry of Railways has written to all the chief ministers to construct level-crossings or overhead bridges in their respective provinces as this is the responsibility of the provincial governments.
Answering a question, he said that the government would leave no stone unturned in making the Railways a profitable organisation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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