ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved Rs10.746 billion in favour of the Federal Directorate of Immunization (FDI) through a technical supplementary grant (TSG) for the procurement of vaccines.
The ECC meeting presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was put up a summary moved by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination.
The Ministry of National Health in the summary stated that the FDI is a high-priority initiative of the government which aims to immunize more than eight million children under two years of age against 10vaccine preventable diseases (VPD).
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Any interruption in immunisation may lead to re-emergence of these diseases in the form of increased mortality and morbidity.
In response to the Finance Division letter of April 14, 2022, all the provincial governments have conveyed their concurrence that the existing mechanism for pool procurement established under the Executive Committee of National Economic Council’s decision will continue under recurrent, revenue side from the fiscal year 2020-21 onwards.
To cope with the decision, all four provincial governments were requested to transfer the funds to the Health Ministry in accordance with their demand of vaccines for the financial year 2022-23. In response, the government of Punjab has transferred the partial share to the federal government, whereas, the governments of Sindh and Balochistan have transferred their full share to the federal government, while the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa conveyed their concurrence to the Finance Division for at source deduction.
The Ministry of Health added that the procurement process of vaccines and syringes has been initiated by the FDI for uninterrupted supply to the provinces.
The traditional vaccines would be procured through open tender while the co-financing share of the vaccine including measles rubella vaccines which are not available through open tender would be procured through the Unicef for which advance payment is required, therefore, the ECC was requested to approve TSG of Rs10.746 billion to the FDI under the administrative control of the Ministry of National Health for the financial year 2022-23.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023