Govt appoints Prof Abul Kalam Azad director general for health services

The government has appointed Prof Abul Kalam Azad as director general for health services.

A health and family welfare ministry order on Sunday said the appointment will be effective from Sep 1.

Prof Azad, who has been the key person of the government digitalisation of the health system since 2009, is currently additional director general for administration of the Directorate General for Health Services.

He had previously served as additional director general for planning from 2011 to 2016.

He is also a member of five global committees such as UN-ESCAP Civil Registration & Vital Statistics or CRVS Steering Group, WHO eHealth Technical Advisory Group, WHO mHealth Expert Group, WHO-UNICEF Joint Expert Group on Nutrition Monitoring, and Health Data Collaborative Steering Committee for Measurement of health-related SDGs

Born in Nilphamari in 1960, he passed MBBS from Dhaka Medical College.

As a medical student, he was the first Central Committee president of Sandhani, an organisation of medical students for voluntary blood donation campaign.

Later, as a doctor, he was one of the key founders of Sandhani National Eye Donation Society that promotes and collects posthumous eye donation. He was the founding secretary general of the organisation.