Nearly one month after a wave of high-profile resignations collapsed the quorum of the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) governing board, Trinidad and Tobago’s Cabinet has formally signed off on appointments for a fully reconstituted leadership body for the regional healthcare agency. The confirmation was delivered publicly on Friday by Health Minister Dr Lackram Bodoe, who spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a Bailey bridge inauguration ceremony in Fyzabad. Bodoe noted that formal appointment notifications for the incoming board members would be rolled out imminently, and clarified that SWRHA chief executive officer Shevanand Gopeesingh would remain in his active post leading the authority’s day-to-day operations, declining to field additional questions about the transition process. The upheaval at the SWRHA traces back to October, when at least three sitting board members submitted formal resignation letters, including then-chairman Anil Gosine, board member Sinanan Dass, and medical director Dr Anand Chattergoon, bringing the total number of departures in 2024 to no fewer than four. Gosine and Chattergoon had only been appointed to their posts the previous year. In earlier comments to local outlet the Express, Gosine cited personal, undisclosed reasons for stepping down, while Chattergoon shared that his resignation was a deliberate choice to pursue a national-level healthcare improvement initiative that could deliver system-wide benefits. He explained that his proposal for a standardized national patient feedback framework — which would create a formal, direct channel for patients to submit concerns that would be addressed promptly by regional health authority frontline staff — had received support from Minister Bodoe, but that ministry officials had advised he would need to vacate his board seat to lead the national rollout of the program. Chattergoon added that he had grown eager to accelerate progress on healthcare delivery reforms as the current administration entered its third year in office, and wanted to leverage the remaining term to deliver tangible, large-scale improvements for patients across the country. The spate of resignations pushed the SWRHA board below the minimum membership threshold outlined in the Regional Health Authority Act, triggering widespread scrutiny over the body’s operational legitimacy. The legislation’s second schedule mandates that each regional health board must have between seven and nine members appointed directly by the President, with mandatory representation including a chair, deputy chair, a local government expert, a registered medical practitioner, a registered nurse, a Ministry of Health representative, and specialists in fields ranging from finance, business administration, human resources, industrial relations to law. In the immediate aftermath of the board’s functional dissolution, the Trinidad and Tobago National Nurses Association (TTNNA) issued a formal public appeal to Minister Bodoe, urging him to launch a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the mass resignations and fast-track the nomination of qualified candidates to restore the SWRHA’s governing capacity without delay.