KARACHI: With more than 75 per cent of top-level technical posts vacant, the Sindh health department is facing a serious shortage of experts at a time when the province is experiencing multiple outbreaks of infectious diseases, it has emerged.
According to sources, the health management cadre — a specialised administrative structure within the Sindh health department designed to manage hospitals and health services — has 70 sanctioned Grade-20 posts, but 53 of the positions are vacant, primarily due to the retirement of officials with no timely replacements.
They said promotions have been pending for the past six years.
Currently, only 17 officers are working at the top level, leaving the health system practically without operational oversight.
Of 70 Grade-20 posts in health management cadre, 53 are yet to be filled
“These officers specialising in health management were often assigned the responsibility to oversee the emerging public health challenges,” an official said.
He recalled that the health department used to set up committees, led by these officers, to respond to public health threats.
The sources said the last such committee was set up in 2018 to address the situation emerged after several cases of Naegleria fowleri were reported.
Its task, they said, was not just to formulate a strategy but also to identify vulnerable areas, ensure collection of water samples, take immediate action to ensure chlorination as per the WHO standards and release information to the media.
The sources emphasised the widening gap of human resource at the top level had left communities very vulnerable to disease.
“It’s unfortunate that health specialist positions remain unfilled at a time when the province faces multiple health challenges including HIV, mpox, measles, malaria and dengue,” another officer said and added: “The situation deprives the province of the technical capacity required to anticipate, prevent and respond to outbreaks.”
These experts, the sources said, were assigned responsibilities to oversee the performance of the department, develop a strategy to address the situation by engaging all stakeholders including the private sector.
Responding to these concerns, a top health department official conceded that promotions of senior level officers were pending for a long time.
“We have expedited this process now on the directives of the health secretary and soon the seniority list would be notified,” he said.
However, he pointed out that there would not be any new inductions.
“The rules don’t allow new appointments. A meeting of the departmental promotion committee has already been held in this regard and all officers already working with the department, including those who were inducted in 2022, would be considered for promotions,” he said.
He further said that the department had recently inducted 2,000 doctors on Grade-17 post and more appointments (in lower grades) would be made to address shortage of human resource.
It may be noted that from January to April 23, 33 mpox cases have been reported in Sindh — 22 in Khairpur, eight in Karachi and three cases in Sukkur.
Measles this year has claimed the lives of at least 40 children in Sindh.
The HIV/AIDS situation is no less worrisome with at least three hospitals in Karachi seeing 159 paediatric cases this year. The province has also recently reported its first death from Congo fever.
Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2026
