Health ministry recruits time-bound consultants

Days after the Narendra Modi government decided to give marching orders to the foreign-funded consultants working with the Central government for more than three years, the Union health ministry has decided to create its own work force by recruiting consultants for a time-bound period funded by them. The loss of professionals recruited as consultants by bilateral or multi-lateral agencies has had the health ministry concerned.

While there are about 80-90 such consultants there in the health ministry, the national AIDS Control Organisation has about 100 of them. More than half of these consultants are more than three-year-old and will have to leave following the recent orders circulated by the department of expenditure, ministry of finance. The department had asked all the ministries to compile a list of government consultants asking the ministries to limit the action on those funded by the bilateral or multi-lateral agencies and not to renew the services of those who have completed three years in the ministry. “The ministry never uses them as policy tools. We are dependent on them as they provide technical support. Now that they will go, we will have a huge problem in reorganising. So, we have decided to recruit consultants through domestic funds,” said a senior official in the ministry.

The consultants in the health ministry have been provided for technical support by agencies like UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO and aid groups like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

However, recently, the government ordered that those who have served for three years to be removed from service by June. ‘The fall out orf the order is that the good ones have automatically started leaving without having us to say go. Many competent hands have left. The rest will all be removed soon too,” added the official.

To fill-in the gap, the ministry has decided to hire their own consultants through domestic funding. “We will create our own work force so that we do not have to go through such a situation again in future. Those trained by us have already left or will leave. We do not want such a situation to arise again,” added another official.

More than 500 consultants work across the Indian government.