Tufton dissolves UHWI Board over ‘levels of dysfunctionality’
Published:Friday | December 8, 2023 | 12:09 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
A clash of personalities and dysfunctionality are the reasons Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton said led to his decision to dissolve the current Board of Management at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI).
The action comes after the resignation of the chairman of the board, Wayne Chai Chong, who submitted his resignation effective this past Monday, December 4. His deputy, Dr Andre Foote, reportedly, had also resigned.
“We got bogged down with a number of issues that involved personalities, which became a distraction from some of the critical issues that needed to be addressed, and I wasn’t convinced that we were making enough progess to resolving those issues or at least being able to function with those issues in the mix,” Tufton told The Gleaner last night.
In an earlier statement, the minister said the resignation of the board chairman came after a series of discussions on the strategic direction of the hospital and deliberations on the way forward for critical projects, which he said Chai Chong noted he was unable to lead.
He said the decision to dissolve the board was taken following a meeting with its members to discuss the way forward.
According to the statement, the meeting also agreed that key strategic actions would need to be taken to realign the institution. Included in these actions are the recruitment and appointment of a new chief executive officer (CEO) and the reinstitution of a new board of management to improve the governance, management, and operational efficiency of the institution.
According to a Gleaner source, the concerns that impacted the now former board included governance issues and the chairman’s hiring process in the search for a new CEO. The Gleaner understands that the steps taken by the chairman, who was coming from the private sector, did not have the full support of the other directors.
“The board was a good board in a number of ways, and a number of things have been achieved, and I thank all who participated, but in other ways there were some levels of dysfunctionality, and attempts at resolving some of them became a challenge … ,” Tufton said yesterday.
Dr Morais Guy, opposition spokesperson on health, had raised alarm at what he said were the sudden resignations of the hospital’s board chairman and deputy chairman, questioning whether their departures could be related to the protracted recruitment of a new CEO for the facility.
Guy also expressed concern about the implications of this action on the operations of the hospital.
“UHWI is the premier medical training institution in the Caribbean and serves a significant portion of the Jamaica population. Therefore, any issue which threatens its normal performance is disturbing to the Opposition as it impacts healthcare delivery to the Jamaica people,” he said.
However, stressing that this measure would have no impact on the functioning of the hospital, Tufton noted that steps would be taken to appoint a new board in the “shortest time possible”.