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A formal disciplinary investigation has been opened into the head of the Tashkent District Medical Association after he signed an order appointing his own wife to lead the district’s inter-district perinatal centre — an arrangement that appears to conflict directly with Uzbekistan’s Labour Code.
Husan Asadov, who heads the medical association, issued the order placing his wife Gulnora Asadova in the post of director of the Inter-District Perinatal Centre with effect from 12 October. The order cited Articles 122 and 127 of the Labour Code and a labour contract concluded with Asadova as its legal basis. A copy of the order is held by the news outlet Daryo, which first reported the matter.
The appointment sits in direct tension with Article 121 of the same Labour Code, which prohibits close relatives from working in relationships of direct subordination or supervision. Under that provision, a head of an institution cannot be the direct superior of a spouse within the same organisational structure.
Anti-Corruption Agency and Regional Health Authority Both Respond
The Anti-Corruption Agency’s press service confirmed to Daryo that a service investigation had been initiated over the appointment. The Tashkent Regional Health Department separately stated that the matter had been placed under its oversight and that relevant bodies were conducting a review. The department said measures would be taken in accordance with the law once the review was complete, and stressed that legality, transparency and the prevention of conflicts of interest in personnel appointments were priorities.
What remains unanswered, the outlet noted, is why the Regional Health Department’s own Compliance Control Service did not flag the appointment before it took effect.
Rival Candidates Allege Pressure and Manipulated Criteria
The investigation follows allegations from at least one of the other candidates who had applied for the perinatal centre directorship through the ARGOS personnel platform. That candidate told Daryo that after submitting an application, they received a telephone call instructing them to withdraw their candidacy. When they refused, the platform’s eligibility requirements were quietly amended to include a condition that applicants must have academic research experience or a scientific degree — criteria that automatically disqualified the competing candidates.
Three doctors in total had submitted applications for the post, according to the account given to Daryo. The source said all three faced pressure to stand aside.
The case raises broader questions about the integrity of Uzbekistan’s ARGOS public-sector recruitment platform, which was introduced partly to make appointments more transparent and merit-based. If eligibility criteria can be altered mid-process to exclude qualified candidates, the platform’s safeguards against patronage appointments are undermined. Daryo said it would continue to follow developments.