Push to Replace UHWI Chief Doctor Carl Bruce Reaches Prime Minister Amid Complaints Against Him and Perceived Hospital Inaction
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The effort by senior clinicians at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) to get Dr. Carl Bruce replaced as the chief doctor has escalated to the level of the prime minister, 18° North has learned.
This follows their failed attempts over the last several months to convince the hospital’s board and management to act.
According to one of the senior doctors, who didn’t want to be named, a formal letter was sent to Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness almost three weeks ago signed by 17 clinical heads and subheads.
Dr. Myrton Smith, the UHWI representative of the Association of Government Medical Consultants, a union body, wouldn’t comment as to whether the letter was sent, saying only that as far as the position of Senior Director Clinical Services (SDCS), “We can’t say we’ve had significant feedback regarding the position we had taken so we await that feedback from the management…The consultants remain resolute that we need to see some tangible changes to the leadership structure.”
The Details of the Letter
In a May 18 unsigned version of the letter to Holness seen by 18° North, the consultants referenced the Auditor General’s report made public in January that highlighted a slew of procurement breaches at the hospital. CEO Fitzgerald Mitchell has gone on accrued leave amid a fraud squad investigation. (Mitchell said “no response” when asked to comment on the report and has refused to appear before the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probing operations at UHWI.)
In the letter, the clinicians outlined that they’d been flagging some of the very same issues for years, and “are deeply concerned and enraged by the hospital management’s slow pace of implementation of changes” to ensure the problems don’t recur.
One of their main concerns is the role of the SDCS, which they claim is contributing to the dysfunction as it is now functioning.
The post is understood to be occupied by Bruce. However, in the letter, the senior doctors refer to “the Acting SDCS” —without calling his name — and requested that the position be advertised and filled as soon as possible. They say most of them “have lost confidence in the current Chair of the Medical Committee”—also understood to be Bruce — since that post is usually held by the SDCS.
Most news reports over the past decade have referred to Bruce as the hospital’s Medical Chief of Staff (MCS), a title appearing as far back as in UHWI’s 2010–2011 annual report, before he was in the role. However, the clinicians argue the title is not officially used in Jamaica’s healthcare system, and in February, then Acting CEO Eric Hosin directed staff to stop using it, though he didn’t offer a replacement title. (The oldest annual report on file at the Parliament’s library, from 1961, uses the title Chief Medical Officer.)
According to the letter to the prime minister, the SDCS is a full-time hospital post. When Bruce took up a full-time job at the University of the West Indies (UWI) around 2021, the clinicians wrote, he should have vacated the SDCS post “in keeping with the established practice for all Medical Consultants employed by the UHWI.” Instead, they claim he has remained in the role “illegitimately,” and accused him of disrespecting staff, undermining clinical heads and overruling their procurement recommendations even in areas outside of his expertise.
“The current Board of Management is aware of this issue, as have other Hospital Boards before this one,” the letter lays out. “The Human Resources Subcommittee of the Board has not only failed to direct the changes needed to resolve this issue but have instead attempted to find ways to defend the status quo.”
Minutes of the Human Resources Subcommittee of the UHWI board from 2023 shared with the Parliament this week confirm that Senior Director of HR Duane Nelson believed Bruce was performing “commendable” duties as SDCS, but there were, in fact, some discussions about whether the chief doctor could legitimately hold two full-time jobs simultaneously.
As to how that matter was resolved, Nelson told 18° North on June 19 he would respond through the new Acting CEO, Lt. Col. Dr. Sydney Powell, who took over after Hosin demitted office on June 10. However, that answer hasn’t yet come.
Bruce’s Tenure Under A Cloud
Earlier this year, a Jan. 16, 2026 no-confidence letter to then Acting CEO Hosin signed by 13 clinical heads accused Bruce of questionable management practices, including cancelling contracts without consultation, withholding payments to junior doctors, and being partly responsible for operational problems that contribute to overcrowding in the Accident and Emergency department.
Bruce was contacted for comment on the allegations in that letter and the one to the prime minister, but he didn’t respond.
The Jan. 16 letter, which also didn’t name him and only referred to the SDCS without the “Acting” designation, also referenced allegations of verbal and physical abuse dating back to 2018, and failures by the hospital to properly investigate the matters. However, the minutes of the HR subcommittee show that, in at least one such case from 2023 involving a nurse in the ICU, UHWI did investigate and a determination was made that “there was no charge to be answered.”
Court records show that a nurse later filed a lawsuit against Bruce and the hospital alleging assault and battery arising from an incident in the ICU during the same general period, though it’s not confirmed that this is the same matter referenced in the HR subcommittee minutes.
The Jan. 16 letter did refer to two court cases against Bruce — one widely known to be criminal — which should disqualify him from remaining as the public image of the hospital. According to the Staff Orders for the Public Service, “Where an officer has been, or is about to be charged with a criminal offence, he/she may be interdicted from duty on half, quarter or no salary, pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings.”
The Response of Management, the Board and the Health Minister
On Feb. 27, 2026, 18° North reported that then Acting CEO Hosin, Board Chairman Patrick Hylton, and UWI, Mona Principal Densil Williams, had requested from clinicians two additional weeks to investigate complaints raised by clinical staff about Bruce in the Jan. 16 letter.
Given that several months have passed and the senior doctors say not much progress has been made, 18° North on June 17 asked Hosin, who remains on the UHWI board, as well as UHWI board chairman Patrick Hylton, how come they hadn’t acted to replace Bruce given all the complaints, but neither of the two responded.
Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton, meanwhile, distanced himself from the matter when asked at a June 10 post-Cabinet press briefing whether he still supports Bruce despite the complaints. He responded, “Ministers don’t appoint Chief Medical Officers…I think that’s his title—Dr. Bruce—either Chief Medical or Medical Chief of Staff, and I believe he held that position before I became minister. So again, that should clarify that.”
The unnamed senior doctor dismissed that response and suggested that Bruce’s long-standing friendship with Tufton may be influencing the lack of action.
The senior doctor hopes the letter to the prime minister will lead to change, warning that if there is no response later this month, he and his fellow doctors may consider industrial action.
“We cannot guarantee continued normalcy,” the letter had subtly threatened if there’s not decisive action.
Prime Minister Holness hasn’t responded to an email asking if he will accede to the senior doctors’ requests.
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