Ljubljana - The acting director general and medical director of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), Branko Gabrovec and Ivan Eržen, have received full five-year terms by the institution's governing council.

The decision was announced after the council conducted interviews with four candidates for the two posts on Thursday and will become final once the government provides the final go-ahead.

The appointment is unsurprising given that they were named acting directors after the government replaced its members of the NIJZ council, which is also why they are likely to be endorsed by the government.

The NIJZ used to have a single director general but the statutes were changed by the government in June to introduce a two-tier management system.

The previous director general Milan Krek, who was widely criticised for his management of the NIJZ during the pandemic, resigned in June citing unbearable pressure from the new government.