KATHMANDU: Shivani Khadgi has been appointed as the acting Director General of the Department of Drug Administration.
Minister for Health and Population Nisha Mehta took a ministerial decision on April 10 to assign Khadgi the responsibility, according to the ministry.
Khagdi, a tenth-level senior drug administrator, is currently the most senior official serving in the department. She has been entrusted with both financial and administrative duties of the Director General until further arrangements are made.
The position became vacant after Minister Mehta recalled then Director General Narayan Prasad Dhakal to the ministry on April 9.
Dhakal was pulled back following allegations that drug prices had been fixed in violation of legal provisions.
In response, the ministry on April 10 formed a three-member probe committee under the coordination of additional health secretary Dr. Shree Krishna Shrestha to investigate the allegations.
Although the committee was instructed to submit its report within a week, it had not been able to move forward with its work as of April 13.
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