Health ministry allegedly violates merit to appoint new head of CMU

ISLAMABAD: The health ministry has allegedly violated the merit to appoint the new head of its Common Management Unit (CMU) by giving the responsibility to a Grade-20 officer of the Secretariat Group, citing sources, ARY News reported on Monday.

Sources told ARY News that an officer of the Secretariat Group was given a key post in the health ministry in violation of the merit after removing Dr Bushra Jameel as the head of the Common Management Unit (CMU).

Muhammad Bashir Khetran has been appointed as the new head of the health ministry’s Common Management Unit (CMU).

Muhammad Bashir Khetran is already performing duties as the health ministry’s joint secretary and now he has been given the additional responsibility of CMU, sources added.

It was learnt that the alleged violation of merit was committed as Khetran is a Grade-20 officer of the Secretariat Group while the candidate’s eligibility criteria for the key post is MBBS and a post-graduate degree in public health.

Moreover, the ‘out-of-merit’ appointment of Khetran was made despite the availability of several senior doctors of Grade-20.

It is important to mention here that the Common Management Unit (CMU) had been constituted during the tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N). The common unit had been established to manage the national programs for controlling TB, HIV and Malaria.

Earlier, Dr Nasir had been appointed as the first head of the CMU, whereas, Dr Amir Ikram and Dr Safdar Rana had also performed duties as the CMU head earlier.