Ásmundur Friðriksson resigns from SÁÁ board

Former Icelandic MP and SÁÁ executive board member Ásmundur Friðriksson has resigned from the board, mbl.is reports. He said his views had received no support from other board members.

Ásmundur has proposed that the chair of SÁÁ should not also be an employee of the organisation. He said this would allow for a more professional board and give the organisation’s operations greater scope.

“No one on the executive board supported that proposal, any more than the other proposals I have made,” Ásmundur said in a statement. He added that SÁÁ’s work was more important than any individual, including himself and the entire board.

The resignation follows a dispute between SÁÁ’s board and the senior management of Vogur hospital over a termination agreement with Ragnheiður Hulda Friðriksdóttir, Vogur’s chief executive. Several members of the hospital’s senior management subsequently left, including Valgerður Rúnarsdóttir, its director of medical services and former chief physician and chief executive.

Valgerður told Morgunblaðið earlier this week that an difficult situation had arisen again, with unclear boundaries between the board of the organisation and professional management. SÁÁ chair Anna Hildur Guðmundsdóttir said the organisation was changing its structure and administration to meet requirements under laws and agreements.

People contacted by the newspaper said the conflict was highly damaging to SÁÁ, which they described as playing an extremely important role in society. They declined to be named while the situation remains unclear.