New Delhi, Jul 27 (IANS): The Union Health Ministry on Monday appointed Additional Director of Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) hospital, Sunil Kumar, as the new chief of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

However, Kumar will assume the office on August 12, after Rajiv Garg, the current head of the DGHS completes his tenure.

The Centre had extended Garg's tenure for one month on July 13. However, till completion of his tenure, Kumar will function as the officer-on special duty in the DGHS.

The Health Ministry stated in the order that Kumar's services as the officer-on special duty before taking charge of the DGHS would allow him to have first-hand knowledge of Directorate and appreciate the nuances of technical committees set up for the management of on-going COVID-19 pandemic.

Kumar made headlines recently while being the Director of the GTB hospital. In April, he directed heads of various departments to ensure that healthcare staff on coronavirus duty do not embarass the government by highlighting on social media some inevitable difficulties they may face while carrying out their "national duty".

"(The staff) shall be further advised to refrain from talking to the media or use social media platforms to make their complaints public without first bringing it to the knowledge of their concerned duty-roster controlling office," the directions by Kumar read.

The order came after many healthcare workers from the GTB Hospital shared their plight regarding insanely long working hours, lack of accommodation, and substandard quality of PPEs on social media.