LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday finally relinquished eight provincial ministries held by him for quite some time, DawnNews reported.

However, Sharif still holds the health ministry despite severe criticism over the deaths of dozens of patients in Lahore caused by taking spurious drugs provided free of cost by the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC).

Law Minister Rana Sanaullah has been given the additional charge of the Ministry of Community Development.

Similarly, Pervaiz Rasheed will now supervise the provincial information ministry while Saeed Mehdi will look after the Management and Professional Development ministry.

Ahmed Ali, Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor and Manshallah Butt will hold the departments of telecommunications, energy and food respectively.

Meanwhile, Housing and Urban Development department has been handed over to Ahsanuddin Qureshi. Whereas, Jehanzaib Burki would be the chief minister's advisor on prosecution.