Kase sidelines senior officers after concerns raised

HEALTH secretary Pascoe Kase says concerns raised by the public for better health services are being taken seriously as he has sidelined three senior officers from the department.
Chief medical officer and executive manager for medical standards of the Department of Health Dr Goa Tau became the second executive manager to be sidelined along with his subordinate and cancer services manager George Otto.
Tau will be replaced by Dr Duncan Dobunaba as acting executive manager for three to four months before it is decided whether he should be confirmed in the position.
He is a medical doctor and specialises in anaesthesia.
He had acted in the capacity of secretary during Kase’s absence and for Dr Paison Dakulala as deputy health secretary national health standards.
Dobunaba acknowledged Dr Tau’s high calibre, explaining that specialists that come under medical standards had not “danced well” in the eyes of spectators or politicians, leading to Dr Tau’s removal.
At the hand-over ceremony on Friday, Kase said changes he made were administrative decisions and based on assessments made on executive managers and programme managers.
However, he said Tau and Otto and outgoing executive manager for the public health division Dr Sibauk Bieb would not be the only ones to be affected by the changes because they were not solely responsible for what they were being reprimanded for.
“There were people who were responsible for the downfall of these officers who will also be talked to,” Kase said.