However, Mr Chin said new chairman Errol Millar needed to be supported and he was sure his board would get behind him.
Health Minister Tony Ryall dismissed Mr Thomson on Tuesday, an event which came several weeks after Mr Thomson refused to resign at the minister's request over the board's $16.9 million IT department fraud.
"Clearly, people don't agree with that and I may perhaps be one of them," Mr Chin said, but since the minister had made that decision, people had to move ahead.
Questions put to Mr Ryall yesterday included one from the Otago Daily Times asking if Mr Millar said he would have done the same as Mr Thomson, in dealing with the fraud, faced with the same circumstances, and if Mr Ryall had no confidence in Mr Thomson, how could he have confidence in Mr Millar?Mr Ryall's office said the question had been dealt with in the House and also referred the Otago Daily Times to the dismissal letter Mr Ryall sent.
It referred to accountability over the fraud and raised concerns about Mr Thomson's public conduct in recent weeks, which was inconsistent with what he expected of board chairmen.
In Parliament yesterday former Labour health minister and Dunedin North MP Pete Hodgson said Mr Thomson's handling of the fraud issue was proper and that Mr Millar would have done the same thing as Mr Thomson over the fraud.
"If so, why is the Otago District Health Board in a better place today than it was before he sacked Mr Thomson?"
Mr Ryall: "Yes. I think it needs to be recognised that Mr Millar was commenting in the context of managing ongoing board relationships."
The minister also dismissed suggestions the appointment was political or personal, pointing out a variety of Mr Millar's public appointments.
Those to the Otago and Southland district health boards had been made by a Labour minister.
Mr Millar said he had received many positive messages yesterday - including one from the board's chief medical officer Richard Bunton, who was an outspoken critic of Mr Ryall's plans to remove Mr Thomson.
Mr Millar had arranged to meet Mr Thomson to discuss transition and other issues.
Mr Thomson was still receiving a steady stream of supportive emails, phone calls and strangers coming up to him in the street.
Dunedin-based National list MP Michael Woodhouse, former chief executive of Dunedin's Mercy Hospital, said he had received about 10 emails over the sacking of Mr Thomson.
About six of them were supportive of Mr Thomson, mostly from people who were close to the former chairman, and the others favoured Mr Ryall's stance.
Mr Woodhouse said there was no suggestion Mr Thomson would be removed from his position as elected representative.
He was confident Mr Ryall had acted fairly, he said.
