Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) MNA, Riaz Hussain Pirzada has been appointed Federal Minister for Health. The Cabinet Division will issue notification of his appointment shortly. According to sources, the decision was taken in a meeting between PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Senior Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at the Prime Minister House on Sunday.
When contacted, Riaz Pirzada said: "I have not been informed officially about my new assignment, may be because of official holiday on Sunday." He further said that it would be confirmed when the federal secretary of the relevant ministry would call him for briefing.
To a question, he said that the devolution of health ministry would take about one year and if the slot of federal health minister was allocated to him, he would have no objection.
Earlier, Riaz Hussain Pirzada resigned from the office of Minister for Minorities Affairs. He told some media persons that his ministry would be devolved to provinces on July 1 under the constitutional amendments, therefore, he did not want to stay minister for two months.