Provision of required funds is another issue, as the Lab employees are unable to draw salaries for several months. In a letter to Sindh Health Secretary, the Lab Consultant and Scientist Naeem-ul-Haq has regretted to continue his work.
From Our Correspondent
Sukkur/Sakrand
Pakistan’s largest snake and dog bite vaccine laboratory, established at a huge cost by Sindh government at Sakrand in 2016 has almost become non-functional due to certain administrative and financial issues.
Dr. Naeem-ul-Haq Qureshi, Scientist and Laboratory Consultant has also regretted to continue the work and sent a letter in this regard to the Secretary of Sindh Health Department.
The PPP government had established the laboratory which is claimed to be Pakistan’s first and Asia’s second largest Anti-Snake Venom/Anti Rabies Serology Laboratory at Sakrand in District Shaheed Benazirabad to develop snake and dog bite vaccine to cure dog and snake bite patients. The laboratory was first put under the administrative control of the Peoples University of Medical Health Sciences for Women, Nawabshah and later handed over to Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in October 2021 for two years, however the newly established lab started facing the issues since transfer of its administrative control to the GIMS.
It was expected that the laboratory would become functional and develop and produce the vaccine in bulk to meet the needs of the province. Dr. Naeem-ul-Haq Qureshi is said to have developed the anti-rabies vaccine and its trial was approved by World Health Organization (WHO) the authorities failed to get it registered with Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan.
Further, Dr. Naeem-ul-Haq Qureshi and 22 other employees have not been paid salary since the GIMS assumed the administrative control of the lab despite the fact that Sindh government has released the funds but are lying unutilized for want of authentication of Dr. Rahim Bukhsh Bhatti, the head of GIMS.
Dr. Naeem-ul-Haq Qureshi, in his 2-page letter sent to the Health Secretary Sindh in the month of April last, has elaborated the situation.
Sources said that after the approval of vaccine by the WHO, the then Sindh Chief Secretary, Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, had directed the concerned officials to get immediate registration of the Anti -Snake Venom (ASV) vaccine being produced at Sindh Anti Snake Venom and Anti Rabies Serology Laboratory, Sakrand with the Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan, but so far no such step has been taken. As a result, the lab has stopped producing the vaccine. “The bulk production of the vaccine was stopped due to non-registration by the Pakistan Drug Regulatory Authority, shortage of technical staff, funds and incomplete documentation,” Dr. Naeem had had informed the Chief Secretary.
According to him, if funds are provided timely the laboratory can start bulk production of the ASV within a year to meet the requirements of the province. Dr. Qureshi claims that the ASV produced by his laboratory would be more efficacious and cost effective compared to that vaccines produced in other countries.
- Rahim Bakhsh Bhatti, Director GIMS while talking to this scribe said that he, accompanied by Director General Health visited the Anti-Snake Venom/Anti Rabies Serology Laboratory Sakrand on Friday.
“The GIMS took over the Lab in Feb. 2022 and a management committee has been setup to run the Lab,” he told and added that his first priority is to get Anti-Snake Venom/Anti Rabies Serology Laboratory registered with Pakistan Drug Regulatory Authority.
Dr. Bhatti said that he has accepted a very difficult task to develop the Lab at International Standard. “Sindh government did not transfer the budget of Lab to GIMS, however soon as funds are received, he will address the issues of salary and other matters.”
Dr. Bhatti said that he had no any information about the letter of Dr. Naeem-ul-Haq Qureshi sent to Health Secretary.
It may be recalled that one Muhammad Yaqoob Mangrio had filed a petition in 2019 in Sindh High Court Hyderabad that the though the lab was established over a decade ago, it has still not produced the vaccines which are currently being provided by the National Institute of Health Sciences, Islamabad. He cited the acute shortage of anti-snake venom (ASVs) and anti-rabies vaccines (ARVs) in public sector hospitals across the province.
On his petition, SHC had directed health department to provide funds for anti-snake venom, anti-rabies vaccine laboratory. Then Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah had assured the court of regular quarterly fund release. However, the issue of funds still haunts the Lab, as mentioned by Dr. Naeem in his letter sent to the Health Secretary. According to him an amount of Rs.264 million was sanctioned by the then Chief Secretary for the fiscal year 2021-22, of which Rs.85 million were released while remaining Rs.179 million are still awaited, which he feared to lapse if not released before June 2022.
Moreover, as per MoU signed for transfer of administrative and financial control, the GIMS was to meet the fiscal needs of Lab till it receives funds from the government.
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