NIH Comes Under Fire Over Failure to Submit Infectious Disease Data

National Institute of Health (NIH) has come under fire over failure to submit Infectious Disease Data in the country.

The members of sub-committee of National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination, Dr. Samina Matloob and Dr. Zahra Wadood Fatemi, expressed their displeasure with the National Institute of Health (NIH) on Tuesday.

They stated that they had asked NIH multiple times to provide complete details of the data and figures on infectious diseases that are on the rise in the country.

Dr. Zehra Wadood Fatemi mentioned that NIH had not vaccinated a single individual with their own laboratory-produced COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic season.
She lamented that NIH was unable to meet the country’s full demand for anti-rabies serum.

Dr. Samina Matloob inquired whether infectious disease patients were receiving all healthcare services from NIH.

She added that she had asked the administration of NIH multiple times for the data on infectious disease patients, but had not received a serious response.

The sub-committee of the NHS met at the Parliament House and was chaired by Ramesh Lal.

The committee deferred the following bills, “The Unani, Ayurvedic, and Homeopathic Practitioners (Amendment) Bill, 2022” and “The Infectious Diseases and Control Center Bill, 2022,” to the Standing Committee.

PPP lawmaker Qadir Khan Mandokhail disclosed that, for the first time in the history of Parliament, a wrong bill was passed by the wrong committee and sent to the house for legislation.Chromatic’s Postcard Competition Sheds Light on Increased Tobacco Prices

He proposed the “Drugs (Amendment) Bill, 2023” to regulate and monitor medicated cosmetic products by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).

He stated that many cosmetic products, such as beauty creams, use substandard drugs that are harmful to skin health.

However, the Federal Special Secretary of NHS, Mirza Nasiruddin Mashhood Ahmed, informed the committee that they are studying the given bill and requested more time for consideration.

He also invited the committee to visit NIH in the upcoming week, assuring that NIH would provide all data and figures to the respected committee members.