ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has directed the health ministry to change the management of Common Management Unit (CMU) whereas the Association of People Living with HIV (APLHIV) has written a letter to the health secretary to retain the CMU in charge.

National Coordinator APLHIV Asghar Satti, on behalf of the HIV community and 20,000 registered people Living with HIV (PLHIV) from across Pakistan, has appreciated the leadership of Joint Secretary Mustafa Jamal Kazi who has the additional charge of CMU national coordinator.

`We welcome the most recent achievements under the leadership of Mr Kazi in the last nine months. His commitment to facili-tate the marginalised communities is matchless since the establishment of CMU. We are at the crossroads, where the strategies, planning and preparations for HIV response for next three years are being finalised,` letter stated.

`Therefore, this is the candid opinion of the community that continuity of Mr Kazi as the leader of all three diseases (HIV, TB and Malaria) and especially of HIV is need of time and any changes will have a negative impact,` it further stated.

It is worth mentioning that on July 4, the IHC had barred the health ministry from extending the tenure of the acting national coordinator of the Common Management Unit for the fourth time and asked the ministry to find a permanent solution in this regard.

In an order, a two-member bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri had given the health ministry a last chance to respond as to why the process of the appointment of the CMU national coordinator was not com-pleted.

The court said the tenure of the temporary coordinator could not be extended for the fourth time under the Estacode, which restricted temporary appointments till six months.

An officer of the health ministry had approached the Islamabad High Court, claiming that it was clearly mentioned in the Estacode that posts would be abolished if kept on an additional charge for over six months but the health ministry violated the said provision.

In April this year, the health ministry assigned additional charge of the CMU national coordinator to the joint secretary (hospital) Mustafa Jamal Kazi for another three months.

According to its website, the Common Management Unit aims at accelerating the national and provincial response to control Aids, TB and malaria and subsequently eliminate the three deadly diseases from the country as per the governmental commitment to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.