Tuberculosis vaccination: Syringes reach Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Auto-disable syringes for Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG), the tuberculosis vaccine, finally reached district headquarters and will soon be supplied to Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) centres across the district. The district health office ran out of stock in January and people faced immense problems at some 104 centres across the province. Official sources stated a large number of children could not be vaccinated as a result. “The office had paid in time, but the syringes were supplied late,” said an official, adding the supply came through on Saturday and centres were informed about the availability of the syringes. Dr Hameed Afridi, who is in-charge of EPI for Peshawar district, could not be reached despite repeated attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2016.