KP DG Health Services replaced in major reshuffle

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Friday replaced the provincial director general Health Services Dr Arshad Ahmad with Dr Tahir Nadeem Khan in a major reshuffle in the Health Department.

Dr Tahir Nadeem Khan is BPS-20 of the management cadre. He is regarded among his fellows as an upright, professional and honest person. Those who have worked with him are afraid now that his extra honesty may stop the system of the Health Department and create a crisis.

“Dr Tahir Nadeem is probably the best among the present lot. Let’s see how far he may go with the government. He has to his credit honesty and competency and he deserves this office,” a former director general remarked about Dr Tahir Nadeem.

Dr Tahir Nadeem had previously served on multiple important positions and earned good reputation for him. He joined the Public Health Department in 1994 and was sent by the government on scholarship to the United Kingdom. In the UK, Dr Tahir Nadeem got training in health management policy and planning.

Sources told The News that Shahram Khan Tarakai soon after assuming charge as health minister decided to bring major changes to the department as there were a lot of allegations against some of the people of selling important positions and getting money for transfers and postings.

The sources said Shahram Tarakai had decided to bring people to top administrative positions on merit instead of their political affiliations and strong backup.

“The health minister had sought opinions of different people and wanted to appoint honest and professional people on key positions,” said a senior government official close to the official meetings.

Pleading anonymity, he said some people told Shahram Tarakai that there are two people he should consider for the DG health position. One was Dr Tahir Nadeem and the second one was Dr Ayub Rose.

“People then told Shahram Tarakai that Dr Tahir Nadeem is very competent and thorough professional, he is extraordinary honest and may stop the working process of the Health Department. And Shahram said he needs honest and competent people and decided to bring Dr Tahir Nadeem to this top position,” said the government official.

The government had long noticed that health delivery services in the peripheries were deteriorated in the past one and half years. Besides mismanagement and massive irregularities on various forums, the public had lost confidence in the state-run health facilities in the province due to lack of adequate services.

Similarly, the government posted Dr Mohammad Ayub Rose as director general health services academy. The previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had appointed Dr Ayub Rose as DG Health Services on November 21, 2017.

Shahram Tarakai had appointed Dr Ayub Rose DG health when he was health minister in the previous government. He, however, could not complete his tenure when Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan became the health minister in the second PTI government and he replaced him with Dr Arshad Ahmad. Dr Arshad Ahmad was appointed on October 23, 2018.

Dr Janbaz Afridi was posted as managing director Health Foundation Peshawar on deputation. Dr Mohammad Javed, additional director general Monitoring and Evaluation DG health services was posted chief executive officer medical faculty on deputation. Other senior management cadre doctors were also transferred and posted.

Dr Naik Nawaz was posted District Health Officer Dera Ismail Khan, Dr Jawad Habib chief executive officer Blood Transfusion Authority by relieving Dr Jamal Nasir from additional charge, Dr Shaheen Afridi additional director general health services.