ISLAMABAD: The post of head of the National Institute of Health (NIH) has remained vacant for almost seven years, despite the Ministry of National Health Services’ (NHS) efforts to fill the seat.

Most recently, 20 candidates applied for the post of NIH executive director but not a single one was eligible for the appointment. NHS Secretary Ayub Sheikh said the ministry now has no choice but the fill the post through deputation.

However, a health expert who applied for the position said the criteria for the appointment is so extensive the seat could never be filled.

“Specialisation in pathology and public health are required, which is fine, as is the requirement for 21 years experience in the NIH discipline and 10 research papers. But it also says candidates should have served as the head of hospital, but there is no hospital in the NIH and no institution like the NIH in the country, so that condition can never be filled. If applications are not being received, the rules should be relaxed a bit,” he said.

The NIH is involved with multi-disciplinary public health activities, such as diagnostic services and the research and production of biological medical products. The institute is a World Health Organisation (WHO) collaboration centre for viral diagnostics and a regional reference laboratory for polio, in addition to being a national reference centre for influenza diagnosis. NIH also operates as the national laboratory for food and drug quality control.

‘NHS ministry has no choice but to fill vacancy through deputation’

An official from the NHS ministry said the institute was established based on public health recommendations from a strategic think tank during the tenure of president Ayub Khan.

“The think tank recommended establishing four institutes – NIH, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, College of Physicians and Surgeons and Pakistan Medical and Research Council. All the institutes were established, but the NIH has become dysfunctional because of adhoc-ism,” he said.

The official said the NIH’s functions include advising the federal government on disease control methods, the implementation of schemes and proposals approved by the federal government and the investigation and research on epidemics and other communicable diseases.

“NIH is also responsible for controlling the environment, with special reference to air, water and food pollution, for conducting research on the traditional system of medicine, collaborating with international agencies such as the WHO in imparting drug analysis training and in developing food standards and pure food laws.”

An NIH official said on the condition of anonymity that the institute has failed to deal with various programmes, such as tuberculosis, malaria, polio and the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, owing to the lack of an executive director.

“60pc of NIH staff work in the vaccine production departments but during the last few years, 80pc of vaccine production units have closed. A few years ago NIH manufactured the polio vaccine, but then stopped,” the official said.

He said the majority of NIH employees have “nothing to do”. “A permanent head with experience dealing with public health should be appointed immediately,” he added.

“The situation is so bad that an NIH officer was held by the National Accountability Bureau and got a plea bargain. Two officers were implicated in an attempt to damage the rabies vaccine. An officer who has an MSc statistics qualification was posted as medical officer. Now, 250 vacancies are being filled in the absence of a permanent head,” he said.

NHS Secretary Sheikh told Dawn the ministry advertised the executive director appointment five months ago and received 20 applications, none of which met the criteria for the post.

“We had no choice but to stop the process. Now we have no option but to appoint the ED through deputation. We are working on it and soon the issue will be addressed,” he said.

When asked about the 250 other vacancies, Mr Sheikh said the NIH’s work was suffering severely due to a shortage of staff, so it has been decided to fill the vacancies.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2017