 Hong Kong Bannar.jpg)
ShareKUWAIT: Health Minister Dr Ahmad Al-Awadhi issued three ministerial decisions appointing ministry officials to fill vacant positions within the health ministry. The decisions are effective July 23, 2023. Dr Al-Munther Al-Hasawi was appointed acting assistant undersecretary for public health affairs in addition to his duties as head of the AIDS office and his position as an internist and infectious diseases consultant. Dr Ahmad Assad was appointed acting assistant undersecretary for dental affairs in addition to his job as head of Jahra Specialized dental center.
The minister also appointed Dr Nadia Ahmad Jumaa, in addition to her position as head of the General Medical Council, as acting assistant undersecretary for health care affairs. Health care affairs include primary health care, special needs affairs, the department of prevention and control of chronic non-communicable diseases, school health affairs and the elderly health service department. Last April, Awadhi, who was also health minister in the previous government, appointed at least six other people to fill vacant leadership positions in the ministry as “acting” officials.
By definition, an acting official is only there to fill the position for a temporary period of time until a proper replacement is found for an exiting or retiring official. The phenomenon of hiring acting officials has been rampant in ministries over the past few years, with nearly 2,000 leadership positions vacant across several ministries in late 2022. According to local media, the reasons for the failure to fill supervisory positions are many, such as the multiple dissolutions of Parliament and government resignations, during which appointments of employees to new roles are suspended.
The repeated handovers of ministries to new top officials means that these officials are continuously focused on attending to urgent matters, which don’t include searching for candidates to permanently fill vacant positions. It can also be attributed to a failure in retaining employees who are qualified enough to fill the shoes of their predecessors.
Critics say that work in multiple government agencies has been hindered due to these vacancies. The current situation leaves officials serving in multiple positions, which requires their attention to more than one file. A recent report by a local newspaper says that without permanently filling leadership positions, it would be difficult to hold officials accountable in case of mismanagement or shortcomings.
