Inniss confident in board

MINISTER OF HEALTH DONVILLE INNISS yesterday said he had full confidence in the board of management of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).His comment came in the wake of criticism from Opposition Leader Mia Mottley over the board’s handling of the ongoing impasse with the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) over the termination of a work contract of a medical consultant at the hospital. Mottley said yesterday at a media briefing that the situation between BAMP and the board was another sad saga of the harassment and persecution of healthcare workers at all levels at the QEH.But Inniss told the SUNDAY SUN that neither he nor the board “would be side-tracked” by Mottley’s political posturing.“Mottley has no moral authority to talk on healthcare in Barbados after leaving 14 years of mess at the hospital,” he said.Inniss added while Mottley was attempting to politicise the situation, she should not forget her administration unceremoniously dumped director Neville Millington, deputy director Tennyson Springer, Keith Sandiford and David McAllister from the QEH.Inniss said the board was committed to having an operational environment at the hospital that would cater to the needs of all Barbadians.He said he had been kept abreast of the situation by QEH board chairman Guy Hewitt.On Saturday Hewitt stressed that under the terms of the contract of consultants engaged by the QEH, the board may at any time determine the engagement of the employee on giving three months’ notice in writing to that effect, or on paying one month’s salary.Hewitt said that in the past, consultants had used this contractual clause to end their relationship with the QEH and vice versa. He said he was unaware of BAMP ever objecting to this arrangement in the past. (WG)