GOVERNMENT has decided to allow Chief Executive Officer of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, Michael Khan, to serve out his contract off the job, and not to re-employ him after his contract would have expired.Well-placed sources have confirmed that this decision was arrived at during mediation proceedings between Public Health Minister Dr. George Norton and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the GPHC, Dr. Max Hanoman; and has been communicated to Khan, whose contract expires in August 2017.

The GPHC Board had recently reinstated Khan when his leave expired, but Minister Norton objected to that decision. Guyana Chronicle was told that after the Board had deliberated following the completion of an investigation, Dr. Hanoman had written Dr. Sheik Amir, acting GPHC CEO, informing him that a decision had been made to reinstate Khan, who was then sent a letter instructing him to resume duty.

Khan had been sent on leave to facilitate a forensic audit into the operations of the GPHC. Dr. Hanoman had said that no serious issues had been cited in the report, thus Khan was not debarred from resuming duty as GPHC CEO. “So it is only right that he be allowed to return to work”, Dr. Hanoman had said.

However, Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, had stressed that the evaluation of the audit report on Khan was still incomplete, and until the process was finished, Khan would remain off the job.

Demerarawaves has reported that among the findings in the investigation, conducted by the accounting firm Ram and Mc Rae, was that Khan had instructed that a total of Gy$1.4 million in income tax not be deducted from his responsibility allowance, which amounted to Gy$4.4 million at a rate of Gy$100,000 per month from January, 2011 to September, 2014.

“We consider this action by the CEO as a serious breach of the law and an abuse of his authority, warranting some sanction by the Board of the Corporation,” Demwaves quoted the report as saying. The report also stated that “in breach of the law”, Khan, in a handwritten note, subscribed to the memo to the Director of Financial and General Services that the “allowance should be paid tax free.”

“Mr. Khan must have been aware that the Board made no decision on the tax implications of the payment to him of a responsibility allowance, that the payment by law is subject to PAYE (Pay As You Earn), and that the tax is deducted from responsibility allowances paid to other members of staff of the corporation.”
According to Demwaves, the investigation also found that there was poor internal control and the absence of standard operating procedures for departments, especially Finance and Pharmacy. This, overall, has led to micromanagement of the GPHC by the CEO in areas such as all payments of petty cash, payroll, payment to suppliers etc; the signing of contracts, handling of purchasing, and mailing of bank drafts to overseas suppliers; and approval of all requests for purchases.

Khan had been CEO of the GPHC for a number of years September 9, 2015, when he was sent on administrative leave to allow for investigations to be conducted into the operations of the institution. Mr. Alan Johnson, who formerly headed the New Amsterdam Hospital, was tasked with acting in the capacity of CEO in Khan’s absence. He is now on leave.

It was always held that Khan’s return to the job would be determined by the findings of the investigation.