One List In, Another Out: The Deputy Secretary Shortlist That Changed Mid-File
Documents show a replacement list bearing an old date, senior doctors dropped, and a charged officer kept on, and the official meant to sign off was never asked
| KEY FINDINGS: A replacement DGHS letter says it “will replace the memo of the same number and date” and carries the old date, 5 October 2026. At least six of the 25 names were swapped; officers senior by code number were dropped. One officer was removed over a pending case; a new addition facing a 2026 case stayed on. The signature space for Joint Secretary (Personnel-2) on the ministry note is blank. |
Promotion to deputy secretary is the gateway to the top tier of Bangladesh’s civil service, and for officers outside the administration cadre the shortlist is everything. For 25 health cadre doctors, that shortlist appears to have been rewritten somewhere between the health directorate and the ministry’s personnel wing.
Ministry sources allege that Joint Secretary (Personnel) Md. Mustafizur Rahman and newly posted Deputy Secretary Dr. Umme Hani stopped the file midway and reworked it in exchange for money. Documents seen by this newspaper support several parts of that account.
A replacement letter with an old date
After a September call for applications, the Directorate General of Health Services sent the ministry a seniority list of 25 officers approved by its director general. The version now on file is a replacement: memo no. 786 declares that it “will replace the memo of the same number and date”. It is dated 5 October 2026, and so are the signatures of four officials on every page of the list, including Director General Prof. Dr. Prabhat Chandra Biswas. Sources say the date was backdated.
Six names out, six in
Who was dropped, who was added (officer code in brackets)
| On the first list, now missing | Added to the new list |
| Dr. Muhammad Rezwanul Haque (113854) | Dr. Sohana Shikder (1012383) |
| Dr. Shamima Hossain Khan (114924) | Dr. Ashiqur Rahman (127183) |
| Dr. Md. Anwar Hossain (114959) | Dr. Najmus Saleheen (128772) |
| Dr. A.S.M. Fateh Akram (128018) | Dr. Salmun Nahar (132178) |
| Dr. Rabeya Khatun (128479) | Dr. Mubashshira Binte Alam (135279) |
| Dr. Nuzhat Nadia (131907) | Dr. Md. Nur-e-Alam Khan (134629) |
Source: copy of the first 25-name list and the 5 October 2026 replacement list
Sources put the number of changed names at seven or eight.
Seniority turned upside down
Dr. Mubashshira Binte Alam joined service on 15 January 2015, more than five months after the rest of her 33rd batch, with a merit position of 4,493. Dr. Md. Nur-e-Alam Khan ranks 5,929, the lowest on the list. Dr. Nuzhat Nadia, Dr. A.S.M. Fateh Akram and Dr. Rabeya Khatun, all senior to them by code number, were cut. The documents give no reason.
One case counts, another doesn’t
The ministry’s 27 October note drops Dr. Md. Khalid Saifullah over a pending 2021 departmental case on procurement irregularities. Dr. Nur-e-Alam Khan has faced a departmental case since 10 February 2026 for unauthorised absence, with a show-cause on dismissal or a major penalty a charge sheet copied to the joint secretary (personnel) himself. He remains on the list, and the note is silent on his case.
Officials bypassed
The note is signed by an administrative officer, an assistant secretary and the joint secretary (personnel). The space above Joint Secretary (Personnel-2) Saiful Islam’s name is empty. Sources say attaching the new list without his signature or that of Additional Secretary Khorshed Alam is unlawful, and allege that some new names lack five years of annual confidential reports or belong to the pro-Awami League doctors’ body Swachip. “They bypassed authority, managed the secretary and pinned false tags on the eligible,” one source said.
What happens next
The personnel wing already faces allegations of selling transfers and postings. Aggrieved officers now want an investigation and a list restored on seniority before it reaches the public administration ministry. Until then, the question hanging over the file is simple: who decided which doctors would be promoted, and on what basis?
