The topic of the switch in Health CEOs also came up during a press encounter today with the Public Service Minister, Henry Charles Usher. He told the press this afternoon, even before reports of personality differences emerged, there was a plan that Dr. Mendez could lead the countrywide roll-out of National Health Insurance:
Hon. Henry Charles Usher
"That came out about conflicts and so on, but in reality, this was a move that was being planned before, in terms of CEO Mendez is better suited to work along with NHI, so she is being moved over to the NHI program as in PlanBelize we stated in PlanBelize that we do intend to rollout NHI countrywide. We need somebody with experience, with the expertise to be at the forefront of that NHI program and CEO Mendez is certainly qualified as an expert on that area."
"In terms of the new CEO Dr. Lesbia Guerra, I am very excited about all the work that she has done before. She has work with Ministry of Health before in different capacities. She has own private practice as well. certainly she bring a wealth of experience, she signed a one year contract with Ministry of Lands which is good because she got emersed in government work, so she understood what the CEO work is all about, so I believe it would be a smooth transition over to the ministry of health."
