And the general manager anticipates a lot more innovative moves in this new year with the help of former Ministry of Health CEO, Dr Deysi Mendez coming over.
Now, she's not the only former Health CEO to be sent to NHI - Dr Figueroa himself was the Health CEO when the UDP was in.
And Dr Marco Tulio Mendez - was also designated for the top post at Health when the PUP first won - and he was even photographed in the office. We asked Dr Figueroa if he feels the NHI has become sort of a dumping ground for old CEO's.
Dr. Ramon Figueroa, General Manager, NHI
"Dr Marco Tulio Mendez was not at the Ministry of Health, it was myself, I was the previous CEO at Ministry of Health. You can look at it from a different perspective, you can look at it as a problem or you can look at it as an opportunity. Personally for me, that was an excellent change, I'm doing what I like, less stressful environment, the CEO position is not an easy position. You have to be able to deal with politics and you have to be able to deal with the technical issues ad human resources. Very stressful, I can tell you my experience. So for me it was a wonderful change, a great change. And now that we have a previous CEO coming over to us, for me, it's an opportunity because as you know we're in the process of rolling out the National Health Insurance, we're a small unit as it is and we need all the assistance and all the human resources we can get and this is somebody who started with us at NHI, Dr Deysi Mendez actually started with me when I was at NHI, so she knows the NHI, she has the experience, so for us it's an opportunity."
Courtney Menzies:
"So if another health CEO - we know another health CEO just left - if they end up at NHI, this would be a bigger opportunity for you?"
Dr. Ramon Figueroa, General Manager, NHI
"Well we need more people at NHI and the more assistance we can get, with the proper experience of course and the proper technical background, for me, it's welcomed."
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