Opposition MP Louise Jackson last night urged Bermuda Hospitals Board to explain why its chief of staff was on administrative leave.Dr Donald Thomas, who joined BHB in 2007, was placed on leave on Thursday, as revealed in Saturday's edition of The Royal Gazette.The board confirmed the fact and said it was conducting a “review” in response to questions from this newspaper on Friday evening — but so far it has revealed nothing about what led to the decision.Mrs Jackson, the One Bermuda Alliance's spokeswoman on seniors, said yesterday: “We are concerned to learn the news that the chief of staff has been put on administrative leave, given that this is a very senior position at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.“We note that neither the [Health] Minister [Zane DeSilva] nor the BHB have yet to ... provide any explanation as to why this action was taken.”The politician said the board's confirmation that Dr Thomas was placed on leave raised a “number of questions which need to be answered by either the Minister or the board to address any community concern”.She urged BHB to explain:* Why the decision was taken to put Dr Thomas on leave;* How long is was anticipated he would be on leave and whether it was paid leave;* If there was an internal review or investigation under way — and, if so, when it was likely to be concluded;* Whether the decision was based on a single issue or whether there were other issues which led to the decision; and* Whether an interim/acting chief of staff had been appointed in the meantime.This newspaper asked publicly-funded BHB yesterday if Dr Thomas was on full pay while on leave and whether there was an acting chief of staff in his absence.A spokeswoman said: “The board is committed to ensuring it works in line with its policies and obligations and that includes not commenting on individual matters.“BHB has a full team of medical chiefs who are continuing to lead their respective areas and are currently covering the chief of staff role, via an administrative rota, as interim arrangements are put in place.”She would not provide details of Dr Thomas's salary, adding: “BHB salaries are not public info.” She said adverts for senior posts did not usually include the salary or salary range.On Friday, the spokeswoman replied to questions from this newspaper with the following statement: “We can confirm that our chief of staff, Dr Donald Thomas, is currently on administrative leave while a board review is carried out.“We cannot comment any further on individual matters but interim arrangements are being made to ensure continuity of medical leadership.”We asked BHB chairman Wendall Brown to comment on the review yesterday but he did not respond to an e-mail. The spokeswoman said the statement provided was on behalf of the board.Useful website: www.bhb.bm.