Health Minister Dr Bheri Ramsaran on Tuesday announced that Nirmal Rekha has been appointed the new chairman of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation’s (GPHC) board of directors, following the resignation of Colonel Mark Phillips on September 26.
Rekha was appointed a member of the new board in July, along with Dr Mahendra Carpen, Dr Dalgleish Joseph, Bibi Zaheeda Hack, Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persaud, Renata Chuck-A-Sang, Norma Semple, Kempton Alexander and Dr Sheik Amir.
Minister Ramsaran, who was at the time speaking at a press conference at his Brickdam office, expressed appreciation to Phillips for his stewardship of the board over the past year and congratulated him on his new appointment as chief-of-staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
Rekha was subsequently elected as chair of the board’s Finance Audit Committee and is also actively supporting the investigation into the recent discovery of fraud at the GPHC’s cashier station.
Minister Ramsaran stated that the investigation is being conducted by the Office of the Auditor General, which was called in immediately after the fraud was discovered.
Thus far, the missing Gy$ 4.134 million is yet to be accounted for. Immediately after the discovery, the cashier was placed in police custody and is currently on bail.
The ministry has been closely monitoring the investigation and Minister Ramsaran said he is looking forward for the investigation to end soon, which will allow the ministry to benefit from the findings. “I fully support the comprehensive approach of the investigation,” he said.
Minister Ramsaran pointed out that the ministry is working on improving its control and auditing systems in other areas. He disclosed that the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation is now actively involved with the Pan American Health Organisation/ World Health Organisation (PAHO/ WHO) in setting up systems and its principals learning how to better manage procurement, inventory and distribution, which predominantly apply to pharmaceuticals, medicines and medical supplies because this section takes up a large chunk of the hospital’s budget, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
