Feb. 17, 2009 — Health Commissioner Vivian I. Ebbesen-Fludd has resigned her post at the request of the governor days after it became public that, once again, HIV drugs supplied by the department had run out due to paperwork failures.
As many as 65 patients being treated through Health's AIDS Drug Assistance Program, funded by federal Ryan White Part B grant money, were without drugs since the beginning of the year. The inventory on the drugs was being kept manually and personnel were literally counting the pills — they were not being tracked by computer.
The problem became evident last fall, when officials from the Health Resources Services Administration visited the territory. Roger Dewey, president of the St. Croix Foundation — the fiduciary for the Ryan White funds — said Tuesday night the organization is working to put systems in place that will prevent another such disruption of drug supplies.
HRSA had recently charged the St. Croix Foundation with program management on top of the fiduciary responsibilities.
In her four-paragraph letter to the governor Tuesday, Ebbesen-Fludd said she's departing the deJongh-Francis administration with her "integrity and professional character," but said she's "disheartened to realize that politics has once again overshadowed the importance of the health-care needs and services for the people of the Virgin Islands."
The governor accepted Ebbesen-Fludd's resignation Tuesday. Assistant Health Commissioner Julia Sheen will take over as acting commissioner in the interim, according to a news release from Government House.
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