KHMH chairman resigns, cites conflict with minister

The festering wound that is the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital has apparently burst its stitches. In a press release issued today, the chairman of the hospital’s interim board, Karl H. Menzies, announced that he has submitted his resignation. While the release did not go into detail, it indicated that the primary reason for the resignation was continuing conflict between Menzies and Minster of Health Jose Coye. In his statement, Menzies wrote “While the minister and I agree that the hospital has many problems…we continue to disagree on the solution to these problems.” Although Menzies declined to elaborate beyond his written statement, News Five has learned that the long simmering conflict centres on the degree of autonomy that the government owned hospital would be granted from the Ministry of Health. Matters came to a head over the hiring of a CEO for the institution, by far Belize’s largest health care facility. After a lengthy and well-publicized search, the nine member board decided to hire an experienced candidate from the United Kingdom. It is alleged that the top brass in the Ministry of Health did not approve the choice and submitted a name of their own–one who had not even applied for the job. It is not known how the impasse will be settled, but the newly hired hospital chief is expected to arrive from England on September eighteenth. Meanwhile, Menzies is not the only board member to call it a day. Terry Bedran Stark of the Pathology Lab on Eve Street, told News Five that she has also submitted her resignation in support of Menzies. When contacted this afternoon for comment, Minister of Health Joe Coye explained that under the law, the board is required to consult with the Minister on the appointment of the hospital’s CEO. He said that it is the ministry’s policy that qualified Belizeans should always be given first priority for available jobs and that when the board could not find a suitable Belizean candidate he asked them to continue the search and target potential applicants for selection. Coye said that one board member had brought forward such a name and the board had agreed on a date to interview him, but that the chairman vetoed the proposal. As for the CEO already hired from England, according to the Minister she has agreed to work as a consultant to both the head of the KHMH as well as the nation’s regional hospitals. While Coye has not yet named a replacement for Menzies, he had nothing but praise for the board’s first chairman. “I believe that Mr. Menzies is very sincere and his integrity is impeccable” said Coye “It is unfortunate that his ideas came into conflict with the policy of the ministry.”