DRAP issues guidelines for pvt healthcare facilities to procure coronavirus vaccines

• DRAP has issued guidelines for private hospitals to procure the coronavirus vaccine.
• Says pvt healthcare facilities will first have to be inspected and then registered by the government before being able to vaccinate people.
• It will be mandatory for pvt hospitals to maintain the data of all those who will get vaccinated through them.

Private hospitals will first have to go through an inspection from relevant health authorities before they begin providing coronavirus vaccines to the masses, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has said.

In the road map issued Friday for private healthcare facilities regarding the procurement of the coronavirus vaccine, the drug regulator said that public hospitals will not be allowed to store the vaccines procured by private-sector hospitals. 

Further, DRAP said those hospitals and clinics that wish to procure the coronavirus vaccines will have to submit an application to the director-general of the provincial health department.

The authority added that an expert committee of the health department will formulate a checklist according to which provincial director-generals will carry out an inspection of the private hospitals providing the coronavirus vaccines.

After carrying out an inspection, recommendations will be sent to the DG health Islamabad. Once received, DG health Islamabad will send a  request to the National Immunisation Registration System (NIMS) to register the designated private healthcare facilities. 

Private pharmaceutical companies which have procured the coronavirus vaccines will only be able to provide vaccines to private healthcare facilities after they have been registered with the NIMS, DRAP said.

The guidelines further added it will be mandatory for private healthcare facilities to maintain the data of all those who will get vaccinated through them.