
The former Chief Executive Officer of the Linden Hospital Complex, Rudy Small, has issued a public apology to the nurses of Linden for defamatory comments that he made against them back in 2021, when he claimed that they would sign in for duty then leave the hospital to be with their “sweet man”.
Two weeks ago, the High Court ordered that he issues the apology in addition to paying the nurses a total of $20 million in damages. If he did not make the apology before the 16th February, he would have been facing additional damages of $20 million.
The apology was issued in the newspapers today, with Small admitting that his comments had the potential to seriously harm, hurt and embarrass those who his comments referred to.
In 2021, protests erupted at the Linden Hospital and across the town of Linden after the then CEO of the hospital made the disparaging comments during a media interview.
Furious nurses launched a protest and were joined by community leaders and residents. The CEO was removed from his post and transferred to the Ministry of Health, but was then sent back to Linden to continue serving at the hospital in the same position. He then issued an apology for his statements being made public.
The nurses, through the Guyana Public Service Union, said an apology was never extended to them for the actual statements and they decided to move ahead with a class action lawsuit against the CEO.
Small resigned from the job eventually in 2022, but the Court case followed him, until a decision was handed down against him recently by the Acting Chief Justice.
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