LAHORE: The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) authorities have dropped four highly-qualified candidates from public sector to fill the position of its chief executive officer and recommended two others who had applied from the private sector, triggering a controversy over the appointment criterion.

The recommendations were sent to the federal government by the Policy Board of DRAP at its recently held meeting despite opposition by some members who in their dissenting notes stated that the candidates from public sector must be given priority. The prime minister was to accord approval from one of the two sent names for the high-profile post.

According to documents available with Dawn, a total of 40 candidates had applied for the top slot – DRAP CEO – which was advertised in October 2013. The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination forwarded the applications to the commission constituted by the government for appointment of heads of the autonomous bodies/regulatory authorities in the public sector.

A majority (more than 25) of them had the required qualification.

The basic criterion mentioned in the documents to apply for the post was “postgraduation degree in Pharmacy or Medicine with an age not less than 45 years or more than 56 years with a minimum of 20-year experience in management or pharmaceutical field or regulatory affairs in public sector or if no such person of aforesaid qualifications is available in the public sector, then a person possessing above qualifications and experience from the private sector.

“The tenure of the appointment of the CEO shall be for a period of three years, extendable on the recommendations of the Board for one year only.”

At the eighth meeting held on Dec 16 last, the Policy Board informed that five candidates had been shortlisted. Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Secretary Mohammad Ayub Sheikh chaired the meeting.

The Board also shared the list of the five short-listed candidates which was having names of two private contenders at its top. The candidates were Mohammad Aslam, Ahson Q Siddique, Sheikh Akhtar Husain, Mohammad Tanveer Alam and Mohammad Khalid Khan.

The documents said the Board was shocked to learn that the name of another government official -- DRAP Deputy Director General Dr Abdul Rashid (who had applied for the same position) was not recommended in the list of 40 candidates. Meanwhile, the Board acknowledged the mistake and agreed to recommend Dr Rashid’s name as the sixth shortlisted candidate contending for the post. The case was referred to the next meeting which was scheduled for January.

The Policy Board during its last meeting dropped the four candidates who had applied from public sector despite serving the government with high qualifications. They have done PhD in Pharmacy and meet the required experience and age criteria.

Defending the decision of the Policy Board, acting CEO of DRAP Mohammad Arshad Khan told Dawn that though the dropped candidates had good qualification and experience background, they could not obtain ‘threshold marks’ during interview process.

He confirmed that the all the four dropped candidates who had applied from public sector for the post were having PhD in Pharmacy. “Fulfillment of basic qualification and experience required for the post was not the only benchmark to declare them eligible for the post,” he said and added that actual task was to obtain marks during interview process.

Elaborating the parameters to obtain ‘threshold marks’, Mr Khan said the two private candidates were better in aptitude, understanding, personality, presentation etc., compared to other competitors.

“If we go to the basic criteria including qualification and experience, more than 25 candidates out of the total were eligible for the top slot,” the DRAP CEO claimed.

Chief Inspector of Drugs/Secretary Quality Control Drugs of Gilgit-Baltistan Kifayatullah Khan, who was also member of the DRAP Policy Board, criticised the Authority for giving priority to the private candidates.

In a letter to the acting CEO of DRAP on Jan 13, he stated: “As I already communicated during the meeting, I do not agree with the decision of the Policy Board and would like that my vote of dissent may please be recorded.” Giving reference of Section 5 (a) of the DRAP Act 2012, he stated that the candidates from the public sector must be given priority for the post of the CEO.

“Although four candidates were interviewed for the post but no minutes/details of these interviews were made available to the Policy Board,” Mr Kifayatullah said.

Another member of the Board, Dr Ayaz Ali Khan, who represented from Punjab, also raised the same point stating that the candidates from public sector must be given priority.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2015

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