FORMER chairman of the board of management at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) Wayne Chai Chong’s credibility received a significant boost on Tuesday after newly submitted documents appeared to corroborate key aspects of his account of the hospital’s controversial chief executive officer (CEO) recruitment process.

The records, presented to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), painted a far different picture from the one that emerged just two weeks earlier when members were told that officials could find little documentation relating to the recruitment exercise beyond two brief paragraphs contained in board minutes from July 2023.

Instead, the latest documents revealed a lengthy and structured recruitment process involving an external consultant, detailed discussions by the board and its human resource and customer service subcommittee, a round-robin vote by directors, and majority support for moving ahead with contract negotiations with a selected candidate.