Minister of Health Willum Þór Þórsson appointed five board members yesterday to steer Landspítali National University Hospital, reports RÚV. This comes two months after Althingi passed a bill allowing the minister to appoint a board to direct the struggling institution.
Björn Zoëga, an orthopaedist and director of Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden, will chair the board.
Björn told Morgunblaðið there are too many people at Landspítali who are not directly caring for patients. He says the administrative structure of the hospital needs to be simplified and the constitution needs to be revised.
“However, I have faith that it can be done and the new board has strong people who can help the new CEO change what needs to be changed,” Björn says.
The vice chair of the board is Sólrún Kristjánsdóttir, CEO of Veitur. The three other board members are Gunnar Einarsson, former mayor of Garðabær and doctor of management and educational studies, Höskuldur H. Ólafsson, former director of Arion Banki, and Ingileif Jónsdóttir, head of infectious and inflammatory diseases department at deCODE genetics and professor of immunology at the University of Iceland.
Two alternates and two observers were also appointed to the board. Observers can take part in meetings but may not vote.
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