Foreign-funded health experts working inside the government are being relieved. Last week, the government ordered 45 of these experts to be removed from service by June as they had served more than three years, according to health ministry officials. Of about 140 people who run India's HIV/AIDS program, 112 are consultants seconded from foreign organizations. Some are engaged in planning and monitoring of prevention activities in high-risk Indian states. By December, 70 of these experts will leave, while others, who have worked for less than three years, face a government screening committee to decide whether they are needed. S. Selvakumar, a joint secretary in the finance ministry who signed off on clarifications to the new policy rules in January, said he did not know why consultants working in the government were being removed. He said the finance ministry received a request from the cabinet secretariat to compile a list of government consultants last May. More than 500 consultants work across the government, about half in the health sector alone. Some are from the United Nations' UNICEF and other organizations.