Lawyer says price not fixed or determined according to Drug Act 1976. STOCK IMAGE
The bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, directed the deputy attorney-general to file comments on behalf of the federal authorities by February 25, when identical petitions questioning the procurements will be heard.
The judges asked the petitioner to also satisfy the court about the maintainability of the petition at the next hearing.
The petition was filed by human rights activist, Javed Iqbal Burki, who took the authorities to court for awarding tenders to multinational companies, including Roche Pakistan Private Limited and Schering Plough Private Limited, to buy the vaccines at a higher rate under the hepatitis prevention programme.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Haider Imam Rizvi, said the price of the vaccines had not been fixed or determined according to section 12 of the Drug Act 1976. He claimed that the entire process of the tender was collusive in nature and in violation of the procurement rules. The ultimate sufferer will be the common man, who will have to pay a much higher price for the Ropegra and Pegintron vaccines, he said.
The lawyer said that local manufacturing companies were producing the vaccines at a lower rate. The vaccine, Ropegra, was purchased at the rate of Rs5,525 per vial and the Pengintron for Rs5,000 per vial. “The same could have been purchased for as low as Rs1,900 or Rs2,000 to help more patients,” he said, adding that the petitioner had already challenged the registration of the drugs in question by filing a constitutional petition which was still pending at the Sindh High Court.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 20th, 2015.
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