KARACHI, Nov 27: The provincial health minister has stripped the health secretary of his powers of transfers and postings and concentrated them to his office, according to a notification.

The office of the private secretary to Sindh Health Minister Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani in a letter, dated November 22 and addressed to the health secretary, has directed that all the cases of transfers/postings from BS-6 and above should be submitted to the office of the minister for approval before issuance of orders.

Well-placed sources said that the step to concentrate powers was in contravention of the orders of President Pervez Musharraf, who had directed to devolve powers to the lower ranks so that corruption, mismanagement, and delay in the official procedures could be controlled.

The letter further stated that all the cases about leave for more than four months should be sent to the office of the health minister for approval. Besides, the cases of sending officials to foreign training programmes should be routed through his office.

The sources said that the concentration of powers would not only lead to piling up of files at one office but would also cause delay in work. They said that instead of concentrating powers, devolution of power programme in accordance with the president’s directives should have been introduced in the health department to carry out official work in a transparent manner and improve its performance.