By Dr. Jonathan Minagogo Hart
On last week Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at about 6pm, while the team on call (night duty) has just completed attending to and stabilizing a group of 5 trauma patients and attempting to write out the medical notes and findings, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (acting CEO) entered the trauma unit ( to see a patient of interest who or his relative may have previously called her complaining that he was seated in a chair and not on a bed) asking “who saw my patient” and the senior resident doctor (doctor in surgical training), who was the head of the team, responded by asking “who is your patient?”.
The DCEO said “the man in the blue chair” (the patient with a soft tissue injury among the group of 5 patients who was being considered for discharge) and the doctor said “I have seen him (of course, like many other patients, he was seated in a chair). That was where the initial discussion between the doctor and the DCEO ended and the doctor went onto his desk to complete the documentation of the history and physical findings of the patients.
After the doctor has left her presence, she began to instruct the other staff members, saying, “your find bed to admit my patient”.
Seated a few distance away from the DCEO, he decided to call the cardiothoracic surgeon, one of his consultants to discuss the case of the patient with a tension pneumothorax ( which is a life-threatening condition that needs immediate attention and intervention). The DCEO started shouting at him, telling him (the doctor) to drop the call because she was trying to get beds for her patients’ admission.
The doctor asked her to stop because she didn’t know what kind of call he was making. The doctor response further exacerbated the situation and the DCEO continued to shout and began to quiz the doctor on his knowledge of the patients in the unit by asking “have you seen all the patients in trauma?”. The doctor then replied, “yes, I have seen them”.
All this time, the call was on while the doctor attempted addressing the DCEO questions. The consultant then asked to speak to the next doctor in line concerning the critical patient. When the senior doctor on call attempted to give the phone to his colleague, the DCEO attempted snatching the phone from his hand and when the doctor tried to protect his phone, she the pushed his hand away.
Thereafter and then, the DCEO said to the doctor, “since you’re on phone, come and show me all the available males and females beds in trauma”. At that point, the doctor responded by saying “I am a clinician and that is not my primary duty, I’ve performed my duties”.
The DCEO then asked in anger, “do you know that I’m the acting CEO?”. The doctor angrily replied and said, “then finding beds should be handled by you and not me”. The DCEO started shouting and said to the doctor, “you are being rude and disrespectful to me, get out of the hospital”. The doctor then said, I’m not being rude here but you are and you’re not my supervisor to put me out”. He continued, “if you call my supervisor or the CMO, and I’m asked to leave, then I’ll leave”.
The DCEO immediately called the Police to put the doctor out and immediately the Police was available. She later called the CMO who came and asked the doctor out and told him that he would likely not be allowed to continue his training program. Immediately after that, the CMO called the department head to inform him of the incident and the action he has taken.
The doctor got out and called the head of department who advised him to leave and that the matter would be settled the following day.
The following day, the head of department of surgery, along with the professor and consultants of the department of surgery, asked to meet the CMO to resolve the matter peacefully. At the meeting, the department acknowledged that all parties had missteps and specifically pointed out the DCEO for calling police on a doctor who was on duty. The department recommended that the DCEO provided a commitment note assuring all medical staff, as well as supporting staff, that she will not call police or security on a staff member who is not putting anyone or property at risk nor being aggressive while the department prescribes appropriate disciplinary action for its resident: A decision that was contested by the CMO and DCMO. It was then agreed that the department meets the DCEO in an attempt to deescalate the situation.
Two days after, the senior management team of the ministry of health summoned few consultants from the department of surgery alone with the doctor concerned. At the meeting, the senior management team identified the missteps made by each party and called for calm and then cautioned the doctor to exercise restraint in future event and advised him to write an apology letter while the senior management team pay visit to the DCEO to ensure that she makes a commitment not to call police or security on any non-violent staff and staff that doesn’t put anyone or property at risk. The team further assured the department that if need be, the matter with the DCEO will be taken to the board to ensure compliance. REMEMBER THAT THE DCEO HAD VISITED THE MINISTRY EARLIER AND TOLD HER STORY BEFORE THE MEETING WITH MEMBERS FROM THE SURGICAL DEPARTMENT.
On the other hand, there was no go-slow action at the JFK medical center on yesterday and I can say that there is no such action being considered, at least, not for now.
The hospital remains fully operational and functioning to its maximum capacity.
Also, everyone is calm as discussions continue across all sectors to ensure that everyone acts appropriately and accordingly in the future.
