Exclusive Interview: Foreign CEO Pick Chosen To Reform UHWI Turned Down Job After Feeling Unsupported By Key Figures, Including Health Minister Tufton
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When Dorothy Hosein visited Jamaica in September 2023, she expected to spend a week meeting stakeholders and touring the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) before formally accepting the job as CEO.
She’d been selected from a batch of six shortlisted candidates by the UHWI board based on her years of experience transforming other troubled health institutions in the U.K. and was looking forward to doing the same for Jamaica’s premier state-funded hospital.
But while she was received warmly by staff and members of the board, who seemed to want change, in an exclusive interview, she said it became clear to her a faction of key persons didn’t want her there, which ultimately led to her turning down the job.
Then-Acting CEO Fitzgerald Mitchell wouldn’t show her around despite being tasked with doing so; Chief doctor Carl Bruce refused to meet with her, and she learned he’d said he wouldn’t report to her as CEO; Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton was “not welcoming” and, in her presence, cozied up to Mitchell, who eventually got the top spot despite finishing last or second-to-last in the rounds of interviews, according to UHWI Board Chairman Wayne Chai Chong. Chai Chong says it was the decision by Tufton to reinstate Mitchell as acting CEO after the board voted to replace him with another senior director at UHWI during the ongoing CEO search, that led to his resignation as chairman and the dissolution of his board. Tufton has since dismissed the claim, saying ministers don’t appoint CEOs.
Mitchell is now on accrued leave amid a fraud squad investigation following a damning Auditor General’s report in January 2026 into procurement breaches and has declined to appear before the PAC probing the allegations against UHWI.
Bruce, meanwhile, remains in place as chief doctor, as does Tufton as health minister. None of the three have commented on their interactions with Hosein despite being given an opportunity to do so by 18° North.
In May 2026, Tufton voiced support for the recommendations of a review committee he set up in the wake of the Auditor Generals’ report, including appointing a fulltime international expert in hospital administration to the UHWI board for at least a year.
The question is, based on Hosein’s experience three years earlier where the UHWI board tried to recruit an experienced international hospital turnaround specialist to lead the institution but the effort collapsed in part because of him, does Tufton really support change or is it only him about appearing to do so?
In an exclusive interview, Hosein lays out her experience and explains why it’ll be difficult for any CEO to fix UHWI unless the power structure changes first.
Audio Interview with Dorothy Hosein, the CEO candidate the board chose in 2023 to run UHWI.
Timestamps
0:00 Rigorous hiring process: The interviewee went through a competitive, multi-month recruitment process for a Chief Executive role and was ultimately selected.
0:22 Pre-start visit week: As is standard practice, she visited the hospital for a week before starting to meet directors, staff, tour facilities, and meet the Minister of Health, Dr. Christopher Tufton.
1:04 Hostile reception from acting CEO: On day one, the acting CEO Fitzgerald Mitchell was immediately and inexplicably hostile, refused to show her around, and so she left after around 10 minutes and arranged instead with the Director of HR to take her around.
2:50 Circulated negative communication: During her visit, she got a call from the then board chairman Wayne Chai Chong alerting her to a note that was being circulated allegedly from Bruce and possibly Mitchell claiming she was “not fit for the job.”
3:20 Staff were welcoming and eager for change: Despite leadership hostility, frontline staff — nurses, doctors, admin — were enthusiastic and open to change, valuing her independence and experience.
3:55 Minister of Health Tufton not supportive: Despite apparently helping to try and get approval from the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service to sign off on the board’s plan for the private sector to supplement the pay package of the CEO Designate, Minister Tufton didn’t appear warm or welcoming to her and seemed to favor Mitchell.
5:58 Bruce refused to meet her: The Senior Director, Clinical Services flatly refused to meet her at any point and no reason given.
6:14 Culture of fear: Staff described certain individuals holding disproportionate power and control, with people afraid to speak out. Some people threatened by change.
8:08 A major governance concern: She learned Bruce had indicated he would not report to her as CEO.
8:45 Transforming the hospital: On Bruce having said there was no way that a CEO could come and transform the hospital in three years, which was the length of her contract. Within eight months at other places, she was able to show improvement.
9:58 She raised governance concerns with the board: At the end of the week, she told the chairman she still wanted the job but listed clear governance issues that had to be resolved first.
11:12 Threatening undercurrent: She received a call saying to be careful.
12:18 Who was in control of the hospital: She learned Bruce had to approve everything.
14:10 Wouldn’t have been able to come without the minister’s support: She raised lack of support from Tufton with the board.
14:22 Ultimately turned down the job: The board communicated they were unable to resolve the governance issues and action change, leading her to formally withdraw.
15:45 Open to re-engaging: She expressed care for Jamaica’s healthcare system and didn’t rule out future involvement but emphasized the focus should be on fixing the hospital rather than her return. The hospital needs to change.
17:45 Being a foreigner: People are craving change from someone with no connection to anything.
18:13 Connection to the West Indies: Husband is Trinidadian. Met in Ireland.
19:12 A&E conditions: She personally witnessed the poor conditions, reinforcing her belief the hospital urgently needs change. I really know I can do this. I’ve done it before.
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Editor’s Notes:
Interview has been edited for brevity.
Minister Tufton was also asked via email if he had made any attempt since May to propose amendments to the 1948 UHWI Act in order to action one of the recommendations of the review committee which was to eliminate the anomaly in the Act where the Senior Director of Clinical Services (chief doctor) sits on the board while the CEO doesn’t, which creates a power conflict, and he didn’t respond. He also didn’t say whether another recommendation had been actioned which was to impose term limits on the Chair of the Hospital Medical Committee, a post held by the SDCS.
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