500 Rushed To Hospital - Cholera and Typhoid Vaccines Blamed

Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Vaccines being sent to foreign lab for testing: minister
Tuesday, July 03, 2007

PESHAWAR: Health Minister Inayatullah Khan told the provincial assembly on Monday that the Health Department was sending a batch of vaccine, which apparently caused residents of Peshawar to faint, to an international laboratory for testing.

He said the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad should be held responsible if the vaccine proved faulty because the NIH provided the vaccine to the provincial government on April 7 this year.

“The NIH staff provided the vaccine and they are responsible,” said the minister while answering a query raised by Awami National Party (ANP) Parliamentary Leader Bashir Ahmed Bilour. At least 500 people were rushed to hospital after they fell unconscious, allegedly due to administration of faulty vaccines against cholera and typhoid in the flood-hit Regi locality of Peshawar on June 30. He said none of the flood victims bled after they were inoculated.

Bilour asked the government to exempt small horsepower tractors from taxes as poor farmers used them to earn a living. Excise and Taxation Minister Fazl-e-Rabani assured the house that the government would consider the matter. Speaker Bakht Jehan adjourned the house until for today (Tuesday). staff report