The Sindh Health and Population Welfare Department on Saturday ordered the shift of the leave application system for senior officials to a digital platform from September 1, announcing the discontinuation of the traditional paper-based leave submission procedure.

According to directives issued by the department in a letter available to The Express Tribune, all officials ranked BPS-16 to BPS-20 would be required to submit applications for all types of leave exclusively through the Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) portal with effect from September 1.

Deputy Secretary (Staff) Ali Nawaz Channa, in a letter addressing Sindh PPHI chief executive officer, all district health officers, medical superintendents and executive directors of all tertiary care hospitals, medical superintendents of all secondary care hospitals, all section officers, and officers and officials from BS-16 to BS-20, made clear that any leave applications submitted on paper or through any other conventional method after August 31 would not be entertained and may result in strict disciplinary action.

“Moreover, any absence from duty without prior submission and approval of leave through the HRMIS Portal shall be treated as unauthorised absence,” the order warned further.

The order further asked all section officers to ensure “strict compliance” and process all leave applications exclusively through the HRMIS Portal.

The department also said employees and officers facing difficulties in submitting leave applications through the portal could contact Chief Technical Officer Dr Allah Bakhsh Mushtaq for assistance.