The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Doctors Hospital chief executive Charles Sealy II has been appointed managing director of the Public Hospitals Authority, putting a longtime private-sector healthcare executive in charge of the organisation responsible for the country’s major public hospitals.

Mr Sealy will take up the post on September 14, succeeding Dr Aubynette Rolle, who had led the PHA since 2022. Dr Rolle was appointed acting managing director in February 2022 and went on to oversee the authority through major staffing, industrial and operational pressures in the public health system.

The appointment is significant because Mr Sealy comes to the PHA from outside the public hospital system after spending much of his career in private healthcare, including 14 years as chief executive of Doctors Hospital Health System.

He had previously served as Doctors Hospital’s chief operating officer and vice-president of operations, with responsibility spanning nursing, human resources, pharmacy, laboratory services, facilities and other key areas.

His move places him at the head of an authority that operates Princess Margaret Hospital, Rand Memorial Hospital and Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre and is responsible for some of the most consequential operational decisions in the country’s public healthcare system. In recent years, the PHA has grappled with nurse shortages, industrial action, overtime pressures, ageing infrastructure and demands to improve patient care and hospital performance.

The PHA said Mr Sealy brings more than 25 years of executive and organisational leadership experience, including healthcare administration, governance, operational transformation and strategic leadership.

His tenure at Doctors Hospital included a period in which the private institution expanded and restructured services. In 2012, while Mr Sealy was chief executive, Doctors Hospital opened the Bahamas Medical Centre on Blake Road as part of its international patient programme, and he later oversaw changes to services at what became Doctors Hospital West.

He also remained active in the healthcare sector after leaving Doctors Hospital. In 2024, Bahamas Wellness Health System appointed him lead consultant to provide strategic, operational and financial support for four medical centres in New Providence and Eleuthera.

The PHA said Mr Sealy is a Chartered Director and has held leadership roles across healthcare, insurance, corporate and civic organisations.

His qualifications include a Master of Health Administration, Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Science in Public Administration, along with executive training in healthcare leadership.

As managing director, Mr Sealy will be expected to lead efforts to improve the authority’s organisational performance, strengthen accountability and governance and improve the systems supporting public healthcare delivery.

The PHA said his mandate will also include improving the experience of patients and employees and ensuring the authority can respond effectively to the country’s changing healthcare needs.

The job has placed Dr Rolle at the centre of some of the most difficult issues confronting public healthcare in recent years.

During widespread industrial action in January 2025, when 90 percent of junior doctors and 60 percent of consultant physicians failed to report for work, Dr Rolle oversaw contingency arrangements that included closing non-urgent clinics and redeploying staff to acute and inpatient care.

Last year, she also warned that The Bahamas was short about 500 registered nurses amid continuing departures from the public system.

Earlier this year, the PHA imposed tighter controls on overtime after exhausting its overtime budget within the first three months of the 2025/26 fiscal year, with overtime requiring approval from the managing director’s office.

Dr Rolle was also the authority’s public face following a litany of controversies involving patient care.

The PHA said Mr Sealy’s appointment forms part of its effort to build a higher-performing organisation with greater emphasis on quality care, its workforce and public trust.