The chief of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), which is spearheading Bangladesh’s nationwide fight against Covid-19, has stepped down.
Prof Dr Md Abul Kalam Azad submitted his resignation letter to the secretary of the Public Administration Ministry on Tuesday morning, said Health Service Division Secretary Md Abdul Mannan.
The development has come in the wake of several Covid-19 related controversies surrounding the state-run organization and different private hospitals in Dhaka city.
Prof Azad took on the post of the DGHS director general (DG) on September 1, 2016.
One of the key persons behind the digitalisation of the health system since 2009, he had served the DGHS as its additional director general for administration before becoming the DG.
Prior to that, he was also the directorate’s DG of planning from 2011 till 2016.
Sources from DGHS told Bangla Tribune that Additional DG Prof Dr Nasima Sultana, Mugda Medical College Principal Prof Dr Titu Mia, and Dr AHM Enayet Hussain, the DG of health education department under DGHS, are on the short list of candidates who could replace Prof Azad.
