CEO Allen is interfering in technical decisions, says PSU

Ray Davis

On Wednesday, Danini Contreras attended a teleconference session at PAHO. That in itself is no cause for cause for controversy, but in the current atmosphere at the Ministry of Health, there’s plenty of speculation and frustration. It is known that C.E.O. Peter Allen does not get along with Chief Pharmacist, Sharon Anderson. There is evidence that Allen has continuously made decisions which severely restrict Anderson’s authority on the job. So when she was pushed out of the PAHO meeting which she had coordinated to make way for Danini Contreras, it raised eyebrows. Today, P.S.U. Industrial Relations Officer, Ray Davis, told News Five that Allen is a policy person, and should not be interfering in technical matters.

Ray Davis, Industrial Relations Officer, Public Service Union

“Information that the union has on this issue is that the Chief Pharmacist had been in contact with PAHO with regards to an initiative that the Ministry of Health at the CEO level had requested of PAHO. She was then the one that had direct communication with the people at PAHO that were going to do this particular program. So at the end of the day when the meeting was scheduled she naturally was expecting to be a part of that meeting. She was approached at the level of PAHO that instructions were given that they should not have communications with her. Now at the union we found that peculiar because I know of the type of protocol that exists at PAHO, and from the information we got it was a verbal request or directive. And that really forced the personnel at PAHO to prevail on the Chief Pharmacist not to go to the meeting. The DHS was brought into the picture with regards to what was happening there and he agreed that the Chief Pharmacist should go. At the end of the day I think the DHS had to do some groundwork to speak with PAHO. I don’t know what the net result of all of that is but I do know that the Chief Pharmacist, Miss Anderson, did not attend the meeting. The structure of the Public Service is simple man…we don’t have to create anything that doesn’t exist. She’s the person in charge. You have a technical question that you’re requesting from an external agency. Then you want your people at the apex to be involved. It’s as simple as that. The decision as to the lower level that comes cannot come from a CEO that is trying to manage one of the units that is under the purview of the DHS. It’s simple. He’s a policy person. When you get down to the level of implementing those policies at a technical level, you need the technical expertise that is able to direct that.”

While it was our understanding that the Drug Inspectorate would come under the Director of Health Services, since it is a technical unit, we were told today that it doesn’t and that Contreras reports directly to C.E.O. Allen.