Dr. Uģis Gruntmanis, returning to America, is commented by the Minister of Health, Ministry of Health and the work of the whole healthcare sector. In this context, as Minister of Health, I would like to mention a few facts.
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Since his arrival in Latvia in the summer of 2019, I have met the Minister in his capacity as Minister twice, and twice more – he has spoken at industry events.
In July 2019, I invited Mr. Gruntmanis to an interview at the Ministry of Health to hear his plans after returning to Latvia.
Mr Gruntmanis informed me about the OECD tax policy recommendations for Latvia, we talked about the hospital network and issues in the pharmaceutical and other sectors. At that time, there was a vacancy for one board member at the Oriental Hospital (Riga East Clinical University Hospital – RAKUS), because the position had been left by the temporarily appointed acting person.
After talks with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Health, who is the holder of state shares in this state capital company, we decided to offer the vacancy to U. Gruntmanis in full accordance with the law, which provides that the shareholder may appoint an acting board member for up to one year.
RAKUS is the largest hospital in Latvia with a complex multi-profile structure, an annual budget of more than 100 million euros, student training and research. A board member for health care was urgently needed at the time. Mr. Gruntman seemed a very suitable candidate for such a large hospital, which is important in the Latvian health care system, given his own experience of US university hospitals.
Mr Gruntman asked for time for reflection, as well as a recommendation to talk to one of the heads of the university hospital boards in order to get an idea of the work of the board. I recommended a conversation with Imants Paeglitis, Chairman of the Board of RAKUS, and Valta Ābol, Chairman of the Board of the Children’s Clinical University Hospital.
We met Mr. Gruntmanis for the second time in person in a few weeks. He informed me that he was not interested in accepting the offer to work for the RAKUS board and gave several reasons:
– “I have not seen a spark in the eyes of the Chairman of the Board of RAKUS”;
– “I am not convinced that other board members want a change that could be too difficult”;
– “I do not want to work full time because I am thinking of continuing projects in the US”;
– “I prefer to be on the board of Pauls Stradiņš University Hospital (PSKUS)”.
However, I would ask Mr Gruntmanis to appreciate that working for the RAKUS board would provide an opportunity to supplement his own CV with the management experience of a large hospital that he did not yet have, as well as the opportunity to confirm and embark on the ambitious reforms he had outlined.
I also pointed out to Mr Gruntmanis that the candidates for the Stradins Hospital Council will be selected by a professional recruitment company (“Amrop”) and I cannot and must not influence the selection and competition in any way for him or any other candidate.
Mr. Gruntman replied that he was aware of it and was ready to participate in the competition. He is specifically interested only in Stradins Hospital.
The competition for the Stradins Hospital Council was announced, the interest of strong candidates was unexpectedly high, they were evaluated by the competition commission and I found out the results of the selection after it was done. In the councils of all three hospitals, the competition commission looked directly at international experience in hospital management. Therefore, the competition was also international, and the council selected specialists from the Baltic States, as well as Finland with management experience of a large company, as one of the main qualification criteria.
A competition was also announced for the position of the Chairman of the Board of Stradiņš Hospital, as he had been working for a long time. Also in this competition, according to the law, the Minister is prohibited from influencing or determining the selection and evaluation process. Also in this competition, one of the most important qualification requirements of the tenderer was extensive experience in the management of the company. The competition for this job was less in number than for the council, and the candidates’ results were relatively close.
Commenting on the competition, Mr Gruntmanis emphasized that the officials had asked him to prove his ability to speak English and that it was useless and humiliating. The members of the tender commission, on the other hand, remember that they emphasized to Mr Gruntman that the law required the tender commission to check the applicant’s foreign language skills and even apologized for having to check Mr Gruntman’s excellent English language skills.
Mr. Gruntmanis was selected for the last round in both competitions – for the board and council of Stradiņš Hospital, thus his candidacy was highly valued and was not “rejected”. Information on exactly in what aspects Mr. Gruntmanis lagged behind the winners of the competition is available to the commission and the applicant, if he would like to find out. Mr Gruntmanis took the opportunity to know his assessment and is therefore well aware of the Commission’s assessment of the specific experience and skills required by the Statute.
It seems to Mr. Gruntmanis that the position of the head of the Endocrinology Center of Stradiņš Hospital has been removed by the new Chairman of the Board R. Muciņš in order not to appoint U. Gruntmanis.
The fact is: The position of the head of the Endocrinology Center was abolished on February 9, 2020, before R. Muciņš took office. As a minister, I have neither the ability nor the right to influence the hospital’s departments. The post was vacant for several years and its workload has been redeployed. The collective application with a request to announce a competition and hire U. Gruntmanis was submitted to the Board of Stradiņš Hospital at the end of March 2020.
For one of the applicants, prof. Mr Pīrāgs was asked by the hospital board to define what functions the head of the center would perform and from what resources it would be funded, or whether new services would be developed to find funding for a new post. The Board did not receive such information back.
Mr Gruntmanis has not approached the Ministry of Health or the Minister of Health in person with any questions about his employment. However, I have been addressed by some politicians with a request to “find a place for Gruntman in a council”. I have responded to these requests in accordance with my conviction that the candidates for these positions should not be selected by politicians, but by industry and recruitment specialists.
In my work at the Ministry of Health, I have raised important issues in the government that ease the requirements for doctors in the diaspora who want to move to Latvia, to be able to continue their professional work here. I appreciate the initiatives and work of U. Gruntmanis, updating these issues and finding solutions. I am in favor of world experience in Latvia, but at the same time I consider it a principle of my work to strictly follow the law, which forbids the Minister to politically influence the course and results of the competition. I do not consider it possible to return to the practice of selecting the candidates for the competition on the basis of the “right” people.
PS 2017-2018. I had the opportunity to study and train for one year at the Institute of US Senator John McCain (McCainInstitute). During this time, I met two outstanding scientists, Nobel Prize winners Engas Dieten (Angus Deayton) and Richard Thaler (Richard Thaler). Both gentlemen were characterized by wisdom, maturity, composure, tolerance. They listened to the interlocutors without the slightest sign of arrogance and superiority, because they have worked at the most prestigious universities and are winners of the high prize. They spoke with real respect and empathy about research samples, societal and national issues, also describing deviant processes.
Although the United States did not get rid of the English accent during the year, it did not interfere with what Senator McCain said about our small international course – a true leader is aware of and understands the environment in which he / she has to work. Because only by understanding the environment is it possible to make a difference and persuade people to follow themselves. And he added that this has already been said quite accurately by Peter Drucker about companies: “Culture eats strategy for breakfeast”.
This means that lasting changes in large systems cannot be made without ignoring the environmental and cultural context, especially if there is no clear strategy yet.
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