ISLAMABAD, May 11: The federal health ministry has removed Drugs Controller Dr Farnaz Malik who was appointed by the previous government after changing the criterion required for the job.

Dr Malik was appointed as drugs controller in 2005. At that time her appointment was considered to be a violation of the eligibility criterion.

Until then a degree in pharmacy was a mandatory requirement for drugs-related jobs in the ministry. But she held a doctorate in chemistry.After her appointment, then health secretary Mr Anwar Mehmood initiated a process for revising the qualification requirements to regularise her appointment which had then been challenged in the court of law and an explanation had been sought from the health ministry by the National Assembly.

Mr Mehmood succeeded in getting the post-graduate degrees in chemistry, pharmacology, micro-biology and bio-technology included in the eligibility requirements for openings in the drugs control administration.

Pakistan Pharmacists Association protested against the change in qualification requirements, saying the future of pharmacists in the country had been ruined by the unlawful action of the ministry.

Explaining other factors behind her removal, sources said there were efficiency complaints against the officer and the pharmaceutical industry also was dissatisfied.

Another official of the drugs section, Sheikh Ansar, has been given the additional charge of the drugs controller office.