TRHA fires CEO Cyrus

Tobago Regional Health Authority CEO Sheldon Cyrus was fired on Monday , with the TRHA citing poor performance for its action. Cyrus’ termination came on the same day Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles announced the resignation of Health Secretary Dr Agatha Carrington.

Chairman of the TRHA board Ingrid Melville told Newsday on Monday the axing of Cyrus was unrelated to Carrington’s resignation. “No, it’s(dismissal) related to (the) poor performance of Mr Cyrus. He was put on a performance improvement plan for three months and failed to improve,” Melville said via text message.

Cyrus was terminated with immediate effect on Monday with the dismissal letter dated March 2.

The letter, signed by Melville, said Cyrus was placed on six-months probation, his performance was unsatisfactory and he was given an extended three months.

A follow-up performance assessment was done in February 27 and Melville said the board remained dissatisfied with his work and decided to end his tenure.

“Despite written and verbal communication to you about your performance, your repeated and demonstrated failure to perform material duties as CEO in a competent manner has left the board dissatisfied with your performance as CEO of the TRHA.”

Melville said there will be a short-term acting appointment and the recruitment of a substantive CEO.Cyrus was asked to immediately hand o over all devices and access passes belonging to TRHA to front desk security.

Newsday contacted Cyrus for a comment on his firing but he declined to address the matter.

“I will speak when I’m ready,” he said.

Cyrus was TRHA CEO for the past nine months, having been employed in June 2019, replacing acting CEO Michelle Benjamin who was in the position from November 2018 to June 2019.

Cyrus, who holds over 20 years in senior management experience and legal management consultation, faced a few challenges during his time in charge.

In August 2019, an investigation was launched into the death of pregnant Jamila Jordon, 35, who passed away after allegedly waiting 40 minutes for an ambulance on July 25.

Jordon’s relatives blamed the “sluggish” response for the death of her and her unborn child. Cyrus said investigations into the matter revealed the ambulance arrived within “normal time” and “there was no need to investigate the island’s ambulance service.” In November 2019, Cyrus fired Medical Chief of Staff Dr Rufaro Celestine two weeks after she expressed concern in an internal e-mail over the Scarborough General Hospital’s ability to provide specialist care for patients. She suggested the hospital be placed in emergency mode. Her e-mail was leaked to the media and Cyrus eventually fired Celestine claiming her action “created unnecessary panic and brought the organisation into disrepute.”

Cyrus was criticised by minority leader Watson Duke for not making public the contents of an independent payroll audit into the IT, Finance and Human Resource departments.