New boards named for Western Regional Health Authority, UHWI

Businessman Tony Hart is the chairman of the new board of the Western Regional Health Authority.

The board was approved by the Cabinet yesterday following a request by the Health Minister Horace Dalley for the previous members to resign in the wake of a damning health sector audit and the deaths of seven babies amid an infection outbreak at the Cornwall Regional Hospital.

READ: Health sector audits

Yesterday, Dalley said he would make a decision soon on the fate of the board of the hospital.

Meanwhile, the board of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UWHI) where 12 babies died in a series of outbreaks was also asked to step down and businessman James Moss-Solomon is the new head of the body which includes former chairman Sterling Soares.

Dalley says with the complex and important issues facing the health sector, it was necessary to move swiftly with the appointments following the en bloc resignation of the previous Boards.

The appointment of the new Boards which take effect today will be for a three-year period.

See full list of the new boards below:

WESTERN REGIONAL HEALTH AUTHORITY:

Tony Hart (chairman)

Merrick Fray - Businessman

Desmond Leakey - Farmer

Norman Wayne Vaccianna- Businessman

Dr Roy McGregor – Medical Practitioner

Bishop Burchell McPherson – Roman Catholic Bishop of Montego Bay

Mayor Berthel Moore –Westmoreland Parish Council

Mayor Glendon Harris – Local Board of Health

Marva Lawson- Byfield- Public Health Nurse

Rev. Devere Nugent – Minister of Religion

ex officio members including: the Regional Director; the Senior Medical Officer of the Regional Hospital and the Chief Executive Officer of the Regional Hospital. 

UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF THE WEST INDIES:

James Moss Solomon - chairman

Sterling Soares- Businessman

Dr. Carl Bruce- Consultant Neurosurgeon

Jack Shirley - Banker

Walter Scott Q.C. - Lawyer

Ian Moore - Businessman

Dr. Janet Coore Farr - NAJ  and

A nominee from the Medical Association of Jamaica, MAJ

Ex-officio Members include:

the Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies

the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of the West Indies

the Chief Medical Officer, Jamaica

the Financial Secretary, Jamaica

the Bursar of the University of the West Indies

the Chairman of the Medical Committee of the Hospital

The Office of the Prime Minister says given the complexity of the health sector, the Cabinet has given the two boards the latitude to co-opt any individual with the requisite skills that they deem necessary to advance their mandates.