Sindh gets new health director general, EPI head

The Sindh health department on Thursday appointed one of its most seasoned officials, Dr Irshad Memon, as director general of the provincial health services following the retirement of Dr Jumman Bahoto, while another seasoned official, Dr Sikandar Memon, was assigned the task to run the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in Sindh.

“We have appointed our Covid-19 vaccination stalwart Dr Irshad Memon as the director general health services Sindh for his efforts and services during the pandemic,” an official of the health department told The News.

According to a notification, Dr Memon, who was heading the Sindh EPI during the Covid-19 pandemic and successfully headed efforts to deal with the outbreaks of XDR typhoid, Covid-19 and several measles outbreaks, has been given the position of director general health services after the retirement of Dr Bahoto.

The official said Dr Memon who served as district health officer (DHO) Tharparkar and DG health Sindh previously, successfully controlled paediatric infectious diseases and ran campaigns during Covid-19 to vaccine the majority of people when people were hesitant to get vaccinated.

The former head of the Sindh AIDS Control Program (SACP), Dr Sikandar Memon, has been appointed as project director of the EPI with immediate effect. The health department said Dr Memon had a strong control over regulatory affairs of the department while he was very well aware of the health situation in the province. The department hoped that he would be able to control measles, XDR typhoid, siphtheria and other infectious diseases in the province.

Meanwhile, the health department also appointed Dr Pir Ghulam Hussain, who was serving as the principal of the paramedical institute of Jamshoro, as additional director general of Sindh.