GUJRAT, Jan 2: The Gujrat district coordination officer (DCO), on the pretext of unnecessary involvement of the provincial authorities into the affairs of the district government, has refused to accept a district health officer who had been transferred here by the health secretary about two weeks ago, it is learnt.

The secretary had transferred DHO Inamul Haq to Bahawalpur and appointed Dr Aslam Butt, serving as additional principal medical officer (APMO) at the ABS hospital, in his place. Sources in the local health office told this correspondent that Dr Haq, on the directive of DCO Agha Nadeem, had refused to hand over the charge to Dr Butt.

They said the DCO had already informed the secretary about a minor reshuffle in the department, and requested him at a meeting not to transfer Dr Haq.

Sources said the secretary promised but might have forgotten what he had committed with the DCO. The DCO refused to accept the secretary’s order on the plea that the matter of transfer of an official was rested with the district Nazim under devolution plan. The DCO claimed that the district government did not want to transfer Dr Haq, they added.

The rift between the two bureaucrats disappointed Dr Butt who sought the help of an NGO, Anjuman Behbood-i-Marizan, to resolve the issue. A delegation of the NGO led by former MPA Mian Abdul Rashid Pagganwala met with the DCO the other day and informed him that the post of medical superintendent of the DHQ Hospital was lying vacant as EDO (health) Syed Abid Husain was holding its additional charge, sources said.

The delegation requested the DCO to appoint Dr Butt as MS but he turned down their request, they said.

When this correspondent visited the local health office on Wednesday, he found Dr Haq sitting on the official chair while Dr Butt was sitting on a visitors’ chair. However, sources claimed the issue would be settled within a couple of days.