The Sindh High Court on Thursday extended till February 23 its injunction, preventing the provincial authorities from procuring hepatitis vaccine from the multinational companies at exorbitant rates. The local pharmaceutical companies had approached the court against the authorities for rejecting their medicines and purchasing the same from a multinational company at inflated rates.
In the petition, they submitted that their medicines used for treatment of Hepatitis-B and C are purchased and used by various leading health institutions without any complaint of them being injurious to human health. They said government has also licenced them to manufacture and sell the vaccine within and outside the country.
They said Sindh government rejected their vaccines despite the fact the one of the vaccines, which the authorities have rejected on quality grounds, is the largest selling vaccine in the country. Moreover, he said, this vaccine is also produced by the only company in Pakistan having WHO recognition for its laboratory. A single bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, heard arguments from both sides and adjourned the hearing till February 23 for want of time. The court extended the stay against purchase of the vaccine till further orders.
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