Hajj Vaccine Probe: FIA Arrests Three BHS Officials as Panel Recommends Cancelling Procurement

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested three officials of Border Health Services Pakistan over alleged irregularities in the procurement of vaccines for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. The arrests follow a recommendation from a prime ministerial inquiry panel to cancel the vaccine procurement and start the process again.

The arrested officials are Dr Abid Hussain Shah, the director of Border Health Services Pakistan, former director Pardeep Kumar, and medical officer Dr Syed Ghulam Murtaza Shah. They were produced before a judicial magistrate in Islamabad, who granted the FIA seven days of physical remand. They are due to be produced again on 28 October.

The case, registered as FIR 61/2026, concerns a five-year contract awarded to a single bidder, M/s Pharma Connect, for meningococcal and influenza vaccines and vaccination services. Investigators allege the contract was awarded without a market survey, independent cost estimates, or a comparison of vaccine prices.

According to FIA documents, the contract set the price at Rs3,475 per complete vaccination, while the combined maximum retail price notified by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) was Rs2,660. The FIA estimates the difference could cost the national exchequer about Rs2.445 billion over the contract period.

Separately, the health ministry has set up its own inquiry committee to examine the supply of meningitis vaccine to the Ministry of Religious Affairs between 2022 and 2026. That committee must report by 29 October. It will examine how the DRAP-approved price of Rs1,356 rose to Rs2,555 in supplies to the ministry in 2025, about 88 per cent above the approved price.

The allegations remain under investigation and have not been established by a final court decision.

In other federal government news this week, Pakistan Ratifies Mecca Joint Defence Agreement With Turkiye and Saudi Arabia.

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