A medical doctor is calling for more accountability within Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Health, saying its current director has too much power, as she single-handedly enacted COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates. Ophthalmologist Dr. Houman Hemmati is requesting the county’s Board of Supervisors to make the public health director position an elected office, and to create an independent panel of medical doctors to hold the director accountable. “The [county health] department historically has been focused on issues like trying to find rat droppings in restaurant kitchens, not controlling the lives of every citizen,” Hemmati said to the supervisors during a Feb. 8 board meeting. “Until the pandemic hit and then we realize how much power [the position has].” Current county health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer, who was appointed by the Board in 2017, has been criticized by Angelenos for enacting some of the nation’s strictest health mandates during the …