The following is the full text of a statement from the Chairman of GPHC’s Board of Directors, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy:
“On behalf of myself and on behalf of the GPHC Board of Directors, we offer our profound condolences to the family and friends of Michael Khan, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
Michael Khan served the GPHC at a time when resources were scarce, but it was during that period when the GPHC made tremendous progress and set the stage for propelling the GPHC as a leader for healthcare in Guyana, and now striving to be one of the best hospitals in the Caribbean.
For the GPHC, Michael Khan will be a lead figure in the GPHC’s Hall of Fame when it is established in 2026.
With the passing of Michael Khan, Guyana lost one of its best hospital administrators and a dedicated public servant and I lost a friend. For me, the news of Mike’s passing was devastating. For the past decade I watched as Mike emotionally deteriorated, never being able to recover from the termination of his contract as the CEO of the GPHC.
The Mike who people met for the last decade was not the same Mike that served as GPHC’s CEO for more than 16 years and who served the health sector in Guyana for almost 30 years. For the last decade of his life, he was a broken man. The country that he had served with dedication and distinction broke him, caused him to fall to pieces.
In 1994, soon after the restoration of democracy in Guyana in October 1992, Mike returned to Guyana, leaving a lucrative job as a health procurement officer in the Middle East and after serving in the hospital system in the US.
He served initially as the deputy administrator at GPHC under Dr Vibert Shury who served as hospital administrator between 1993 and 1998, having been appointed under the Cheddi Jagan-led Government. In 1997, Mike resigned from the GPHC to take up a position as the CEO at St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital. When I became Minister of Health, Mike returned to the GPHC as its first CEO, under the Bharat Jagdeo-led Government.
Under his leadership, GPHC successfully transitioned from a hospital administered by the Ministry of Health to a semi-autonomous institution, one with its own budget and in control of its own staff, procurement and infrastructural improvement. It was a monumental task transitioning from a pure public service institution to a semi-autonomous, self-managing institution.
It was under his leadership that the hospital working with the MOH and UG and with international partners established the post-graduate programmes that today represent the major source of specialist doctors in Guyana. Without the leadership provided by Mike Khan, together with the then-Director of Medical and Professional Services, Dr. Madan Rambaran, it would have been very difficult for Guyana to today stand as one of the major specialist training institutions in developing countries.
Many of the advance medical services that the GPHC today continue to build on were started under his tenure as CEO. The cardiac services that offer diagnostic testing such as angiography, and treatments such as angioplasty, stent and open-heart surgery was established during Mike’s tenure as CEO.
The kidney transplant programme and dialysis were also among the many programmes started. Many of the partnerships we have today, although different in character, started when Mike was CEO. Partnerships in heart surgery for children, knee and hip replacement surgeries, the Smile Programme for Cleft Palate, etc. are among the programmes.
But outside of his technical and administrative contributions, Mike’s professionalism and his humility served the GPHC the best. He worked to support the staff and also with patients and their families.
When I was Minister and even after I left the Ministry of Health, Mike was supportive. He was always available when I called for the hospital to help with patients and their families. No matter who I had called for, Mike immediately responded and helped. Whether the person was a poor person or a person with political and other connections did not matter. It was this willingness to immediately respond that made him a successful administrator. I cannot recall a single occasion when I called that Mike did not immediately respond and ensured that any patient-related matter was not resolved.
When the Government changed in 2015, Mike continued to serve for a short while. Towards the end of 2015, Mike Khan was sent on administrative leave by the then APNU/AFC Government when they announced that an audit for financial mismanagement would be conducted.
The audit was conducted by Christopher Ram with no findings of any financial mismanagement. Still, Mike’s contract was terminated without explanation. Mike was never the same person.
It was not the humiliation of termination that affected Mike. It was the separation from GPHC which had become his family.
Mike lived for the GPHC and even though Mike was offered a position as the CEO of the New Amsterdam Hospital in 2020, he was never the same man he was at GPHC. His love and commitment to GPHC never waned and the separation from GPHC in 2016 killed him emotionally.
He was my friend. I will forever have a place in my heart for Mike Khan. Mike Khan served the GPHC with distinction and the GPHC Board is saddened with his passing.
“The new GPHC that the government, the board and the management have been building since 2020 is a continuation of the work that was started by the government and under the then management of Mike Khan. The Board salutes his contribution to the GPHC and to the health sector. May his soul rest in peace.”