ISLAMABAD, July 10: The future of the $22million foreign funded National Aids Control Programme (NACP) is in doldrums as donors have threatened to withdraw financing if bureaucratic hurdles and mismanagement in the programme are not controlled.

In a warning to the Ministry of National Health Regulation and Coordination (NHRC), the donor agency ‘Global Fund’ said there was no full time head of the programme and the additional charge had been assigned to a non-technical person.

It objected that a bureaucrat with no health management experience or qualification had been made the programme manager. Mohammad Javed Shah, the programme manager, is the joint secretary of the Pakistan Sports Board, which falls under a different ministry.

The NACP, like many other health related programmes, used to be part of the former health ministry, but after devolution following the 18th amendment, the future of many such programmes remains uncertain as there is serious confusion over their ownership.

The federal government wanted to give health programmes such as the Aids programme, National Tuberculosis Programme, polio campaign and the anti-malaria programme to the provinces, but donors objected that this would lead to a total lack of coordination as each province would establish its own timeline and policy.

Therefore, most of these programmes were revived under the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC). However, during the caretaker government’s tenure, all countrywide programmes including the NACP were brought under the NHRC.

The Aids programme aimed at establishing 18 Aids rehabilitation centres across the country, providing free medication to patients and financial grants to their families while the patients recovered at the authorised centres.

Mujtaba Kamal Qazi was the head of the programme when it was under the IPC, but was called back to the ministry. In March 2013, Javed Shah, who was waiting for posting for almost two years due to certain court cases, was made the Programme Manager NACP.

His appointment violates the basic legal requirements for the appointment of programme manager, which is a technical post.

“Page 46 & 47 of the civil establishment code (Esta code) clearly states that appointment of Grade 20 officers is to be made by the prime minister,” said an employee of the NACP.

“Furthermore, to head such a programme, the person has to be a medical doctor or a post graduate in public health with at least 15 years of experience, but Mr Shah is a simple bureaucrat,” he added.

Meanwhile, Usman Khalil and Dr Mohammad Moiuddin, employees of NACP who had been terminated by Mr Shah, have obtained a stay order from the district and session court Islamabad. Similarly, Dr Suleman Otho, the lone public expert in the Aids programme, had also been terminated by Mr Shah, even though he was especially called from the Sindh Government by the donors to support the programme.

Some employees have written a letter to the NHRC against Mr Shah, stating that mismanagement and corruption in the programme would lead to the winding up of the NACP due to lack of funding, if donors withdrew their support.

The employees said Mr Javed Shah had upgraded his salary to $1,000 per month, and was in possession of three NACP vehicles in addition to the vehicle he had from the Sports Board.

He was also drawing 3,000 litres per month as fuel benefits from the programme.

However, on his part, Mr Javed Shah said there was a legal provision which stated that he could be in the Sports Board as well as the NACP.

Regarding the objections raised by the NACP employees, Mr Shah said only those employees which had been terminated from service were criticising him.

Meanwhile, an NACP employee said Mr Shah was drawing too much from the NACP’s operational fund, including fuel for three vehicles which he was not entitled to.

“While competent people including health management professionals are being terminated from the NACP, blue-eyed boys of personal choice are being inducted,” said an NACP employee.

“To legalise the recruitments, an advertisement has been given for the four posts. Furthermore, large purchase orders for laptops are being placed which are not required by the programme,” he said.

With shrinking national kitty, it is less likely that the government can afford to continue the national Aids programme without the support of foreign donors, and without such a programme, Pakistan could face serious image problems at the international level akin to the situation the country is facing for failing to eradicate polio.