CEO of the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) Ameena Ali has announced her resignation. In a statement released by Ali yesterday, she outlined the reasons for her resignation stating that it was in the best interests of the public and the Authority. Healthcare workers at the Sangre Grande District Hospital began protest action on February 2 outside the facility calling for Ali’s resignation.
Ali said the allegations made against her relating to her interpersonal skills and the manner in which she dealt with certain practices at the Authority which compromised its interests were unfounded. She said the ERHA had also received no notification of a breach of or formal complaint pertaining to OSH issues. Ali said the situation had morphed into a relentless attack on her by a union leader whose union did not have the right to bring an action to be heard in court against the ERHA.
She said the allegations levelled against her had castigated her personal conduct and professional integrity for which she had worked hard, rising from humble beginnings to achieve her professional qualifications as a pharmacist and lawyer. Ali said her objective at all times was to provide efficient delivery of healthcare to a deserving public and to ensure maximum delivery of output from all personnel at the Authority.
She said notwithstanding the baseless allegations made against her, she had decided that in an effort to preserve her good name and integrity and in order to allow the ERHA to continue to provide quality patient care to which she had committed herself during her tenure of employment, she would disengage her services at the Authority on mutually agreeable terms.
Ali said she had put the public interest and the need for the delivery of healthcare to the people of the region over and above her own interests. She said she decided that her choice in the foregoing circumstances was in the best interests of the Authority and ought to be larger than any personal interest of her own.
Ali said she had also considered the interests of the patients at the hospital, in particular the cancer patients whose care was being severely compromised by these unwarranted protests. She said in doing so she sounded a warning to the national population that the necessity for a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay should be of paramount importance to every citizen in order to effectively contribute to the productivity and progress of the nation.
She said if we lost sight of this objective, standards were compromised and the population was short changed. Ali thanked the Authority for the opportunity to serve and said she believed that she had done so to the best of her ability. She said she would continue to advocate for the rights and interests of patients and the general public as they deserved no less.
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Duke threatened war if Ali did not step down
Public Service Association president Watson Duke had promised “total war” if the embattled CEO was not removed by February 17. Nurses and other workers at the Sangre Grande District Hospital began their protest action from February 2 outside the facility, on Ojoe Road, calling for the resignation of Ali.
Speaking to the Sunday Guardian in a telephone interview yesterday, Duke said: “We had called for her appointment to be revoked because of her incompetent management and inability to work with staff. “The association had issued a deadline by Tuesday that she must be removed from her office or else there will be a full-fledged war. “We’ve also gone further and taken criminal action against her.”
He said in the scenario that the association’s ultimatum was not heeded and Ali was not removed, hospital staff would not have worked at the institution. Duke said Ali had failed to put in place numerous health and safety measures and as a consequence the safety of staff was compromised. He said the association had advised staff that any incompetent CEO who refused to make the work environment safe was not worthy of their support.
Duke said hospital staff would not be working with any CEO who made their work environment unsafe and also demanded that they worked hard while jeopardising their lives. Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan did not respond to the Sunday Guardian’s messages yesterday.