Former Chairman of the Guyana Medical Council, Dr Sheikh Amir has been appointed the new acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), replacing Michael Khan, who served in this capacity for a number of years.
This was confirmed by the health institution on Thursday in a brief statement to the media.
Khan was previously sent on leave pending an investigation into the GPHC as recommended in the findings of the forensic report into the institution, and suspicions were rife that Government would have terminated his contract as was done with other heads of agencies when they were sent on leave pending a probe.
However, Khan was subsequently reinstated by the GPHC Board of Directors and continued to serve in this capacity.
Reports indicated that, after resuming duty, Khan was again asked to proceed on leave until a decision was made on his continuation as GPHC CEO.According to his three-year contract, which expires in August 2017, he is entitled to 42 days’ vacation leave per year.
Guyana Times was unable to ascertain whether Khan was fired or if he resigned from the post.
However, reports indicate that the then GPHC Chairman asserted that the findings of the forensic audit showed no reasons for the CEO to be investigated, but Public Health Minister, Dr George Norton contended otherwise.
Among the findings in the investigation conducted by the Ram and Mc Rae firm was that Khan had instructed that a total of $1.4 million in income tax not be deducted from responsibility allowance totalling $4.4 million at a rate of $100,000 per month from January 2011 to September 2014.
