TORONTO - The opposition parties accused the Liberal government of incompetence Tuesday after eHealth Ontario named its third chief executive officer in as many months, with a fourth to be appointed before the end of this year.

The government can play musical chairs with the CEOs all it wants, but the bottom line is Health Minister David Caplan should be fired, said Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

"It's either incompetence or neglect, neither of which is excusable when it comes to scarce health dollars," said Hudak. "We need a new minister to come in there and clean up this mess."

The New Democrats repeated their call for Caplan's resignation, and said rotating through CEOs only creates uncertainty at eHealth and detracts from its mandate to develop electronic health records.

"It shows the government in a scramble and they're trying to plug a leaking dyke, but the whole eHealth situation is one the government has fumbled very, very badly," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

"To put yet another interim person in place just shows they really have no idea how to get themselves out of this mess and how to get eHealth back on track."

Former eHealth CEO Sarah Kramer and former board chair Dr. Alan Hudson both resigned in June after the Conservatives and New Democrats complained the agency gave out $5 million in untendered contracts to consulting companies.

Documents released by the government last week showed the value of those untendered contracts was closer to $16 million, with the biggest ones going to companies the opposition parties say have ties to the Liberal government.

EHealth's board of directors announced Tuesday it had appointed former Toronto East General CEO Robert Devitt as the new interim president and chief executive officer of the provincial agency.

However, Devitt's appointment will end on December 31, 2009, and in the meantime, eHealth's board will search for a permanent CEO. Ron Sapsford, who had been acting CEO of eHealth since Kramer's resignation, will return to his role as a deputy minister of Health.

EHealth was set up last year to create electronic health records after the first provincial agency given that task, Smart Systems for Health, spent $650 million but failed to produce anything of real value before it was quietly shut down last September.

Ontario lags behind most other provinces and many U.S. states when it comes to electronic health records, which the opposition parties agree are very important. But they say the spending scandal will make it even harder for Ontario to catch up.

"Instead of electronic health records, the focus has been on trying to clean up the mess (at eHealth), and it really doesn't give people a lot of confidence," said Horwath.

"You mention the word eHealth anywhere in Ontario and people just shake their head in disgust."

The eHealth scandal "is creating an entire crisis of confidence in electronic health records in our province," warned Hudak.

"What had been a good idea has turned into a scandal of spending abuses, and now a clear example of mismanagement with three CEOs in three months," he said.

Provincial Auditor General James McCarter will report on his investigation of eHealth in September, but the opposition parties are still angry with the Liberals for quietly cancelling an outside review by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which McGuinty had promised in June.