The government of Alberta says it has dismantled the board of Alberta Health Services and appointed a high-ranking bureaucrat as official administrator.
The move comes after Athana Mentzelopoulos was let go as chief executive officer of AHS earlier this month and replaced by the deputy minister of health, Andre Tremblay, who was appointed CEO of AHS on an interim basis.
Tremblay will oversee the remaining transition period for AHS, which is being reduced from an umbrella health authority for the province to a hospital service provider, as part of the government’s health system overhaul.
Get weekly health news
When Tremblay was appointed earlier this month, the government said the board of AHS would be responsible for finding a new permanent top executive, but it now says the health ministry take over that responsibility.
The Alberta NDP issued a statement reacting to the news, saying, “firing the AHS board — shows just how chaotic and incompetent this government is.”
Meanwhile, the statement continues, saying, “nearly a million people still don’t have a family doctor, cancer patients are dying waiting for treatment, seniors aren’t getting the support they need and deserve, and too many are left immobile while enduring devastatingly long waits for critical surgeries.”
— with files from The Canadian Press.