Islamabad: The Health Services Academy (HSA) has asked the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSR&C) to immediately repatriate Dr. Mehreen Mujtaba, an Assistant Professor of the Academy who has been serving as Director Nutrition as well as Director Climate Change at the ministry.
According to an official communication issued by HSA Registrar Prof. Dr. Abdullah Khan with the approval of the Vice Chancellor, the Academy has directed that Dr. Mehreen Mujtaba report back to her parent institution without delay after the ministry informed that it no longer requires her services.
Officials at the ministry of health claimed that Dr. Mehreen Mujtaba is not a civil servant but a contractual employee of HSA.
She was reportedly hired at the Academy on the directives of former federal health secretary Iftikhar Shalwani, who later secured her services for the health ministry on deputation.
Once posted there, she was given the additional charge of leading two critical portfolios—nutrition and climate change.
The arrangement, however, generated unease within the ministry. Career bureaucrats and technical staff in the health ministry and its allied departments have long complained that the deputation of a contractual academic to such senior positions sidelined permanent officers and disrupted the official chain of command.
“There has been growing resentment because senior officers with decades of service were overlooked while a contractual official was given control of two directorates,” a senior official commented.
Dr. Mehreen Mujtaba, who has experience working with international development agencies and has represented Pakistan in global forums on health, nutrition, and climate change, was initially brought in to strengthen policy engagement on issues under international scrutiny, including malnutrition and climate-linked health risks.
While some argue that she raised the ministry’s profile in these areas, others point out that her deputation lacked procedural justification and blurred lines between academic contracts and federal service rules.
With HSA now formally recalling her, the ministry is expected to relieve Dr. Mujtaba from her dual charge and direct her to resume her teaching and research responsibilities at the University.
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