Following the tragic fire incident at the PIMS nursery—which resulted in the loss of 14 newborns and sparked widespread concern over public hospital safety standards—Captain (Retd.) Muhammad Mahmood has been given the additional charge of Secretary of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination. While currently serving as the Secretary of the Housing and Works Division, his appointment has drawn intense scrutiny due to his involvement in several high-profile controversies throughout his bureaucratic career.
His past administrative record includes his tenure as Commissioner of Rawalpindi, where he was arrested in May 2021 over the Rawalpindi Ring Road scandal regarding alleged illegal alignment changes and irregularities in tender advertisements, though he was subsequently acquitted in 2022. He also faced scrutiny during the 2023 wheat import controversy while serving as Secretary of Food Security, where despite maintaining that imports faced no restrictions, he was later suspended from his position as Additional Secretary at the Ministry of National Food Security. Furthermore, he was removed from his role as Secretary of IT in August 2024 amid allegations of facilitating Long Distance International (LDI) operators flagged as defaulters of PKR 76 billion by permitting installment-based clearing of dues, and his career also includes historical scrutiny and removal from his position as Managing Director of the Nandipur Power Plant project in November 2015 due to reported irregularities.
Despite these historical inquiries and administrative controversies, legal acquittals in key cases indicate that these allegations remain unproven formal findings. Meanwhile, a high-level investigative committee has been established to probe the PIMS nursery fire and address systemic safety lapses across government healthcare facilities.
