ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: The federal government on Thursday appointed Suleiman Ghani as the new federal health secretary in place of Salim Mehmood Salim, who has been posted as principal secretary to the President.

Mr Ghani was one of those officials who carried the stigma of being one of the favourites of PML-Q government.

During PML-Q government, he served for most of the time as Punjab’s chairman planning and development department. After his promotion to BS-22, he was posted as federal secretary industries during Shaukat Aziz government, but soon afterwards, he got himself posted back in Punjab on his previous post.

After the formation of PML-N government, Mr Ghani tried to get himself appointed as the head of the newly-constituted Mass Transit Authority, but the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Shahbaz Sharif, surrendered his services to the federal government primarily because of his close ties with Chaudhries of Gujrat.

Back in the federal government, he had set his sights on the position of secretary EAD, which he could not get and was finally chosen as health secretary.