Dayrit quits as health chief

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit quit his post last week, reportedly to accept a job offer from an international health body, a Malacañang official said yesterday.

The Palace source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said President Arroyo accepted Dayrit’s resignation with "much regret" but had to let go of Dayrit, who has served as health secretary for the past four years.

"The President understood his reasons for leaving and had to let go of him," the source told The STAR. "I think he was offered a post in the World Health Organization (WHO)."

The official said Malacañang will formally announce Dayrit’s resignation this week. The source said Dayrit had long wanted to leave the Department of Health (DOH) but was repeatedly prevailed upon by Mrs. Arroyo to stay.

Dayrit is in Cairo, Egypt to attend a WHO conference. He was elected as one of the commissioners of the prestigious 17-member WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, which includes Nobel laureate Amartya Sen as one of its members.

Sen, who hails from India, was awarded the Nobel prize in 1998 for his contribution to welfare economics, which ranged from the theory of social choice, definitions of welfare and poverty indexes, and empirical studies of famine.

Dayrit could not talk because of poor telephone connection.

"I’m still in the job until any changes are made," he said in a text message. "This (being a WHO commissioner) is an additional job."

Dayrit did not respond to subsequent queries on his relationship with the Arroyo administration.

An member of Dayrit’s staff refused to comment on the reported resignation, saying it would be better if Malacañang makes the announcement.

Dayrit would be the highest ranking Cabinet official to resign in the last two weeks. Last month, Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) chairwoman Haydee Yorac quit her post, ostensibly to return to private law practice.

However, other reports said Yorac was pressured to resign over policy disagreements with Malacañang over the use of coconut levy funds. The Palace dismissed the reports as it thanked Yorac for her services at the PCGG.

The opposition and some militant groups were quick to pounce on the resignations, claiming these signaled the growing dissatisfaction of Mrs. Arroyo’s Cabinet members with her administration.

Dayrit will reportedly be replaced by Philippine Health Insurance Corp. president Dr. Francisco Duque III, said to be a close ally of the President.

Previous news reports quoted Duque as saying he was offered Dayrit’s post early this month.

Dayrit had been credited with staving off an epidemic of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the country as well as an outbreak of meningococcemia.

At the height of the SARS scare in March 2003, Sen. Juan Flavier — a former health secretary - criticized Dayrit for belatedly imposing measures to prevent the entry of SARS into the Philippines.

Early the next month, Dayrit was designated by Mrs. Arroyo as the "crisis manager" of an inter-agency government body tasked to ensure that SARS did not spread to the country.

Also in 2003, the women’s group Linangan ng Kababaihan Inc. was reported to have demanded his resignation for proposing a ban on the intra-uterine device. Dayrit was opposed to the IUD, claiming that he was uncertain if the device works by preventing the man’s sperm from meeting the woman’s egg cell — a mechanism of action condemned by the Roman Catholic Church.

Just before the senatorial polls were held in May 2004, Dayrit was reportedly believed to be seeking elective office since he appeared in "infomercials" on dengue and SARS. He also appeared in one segment of the comedy show "Bubble Gang" on GMA-7.

Subsequent reports claimed his senatorial bid did not take off due to lack of popularity.

Dayrit is a physician by profession as well as an epidemiologist and health care manager whose expertise lies in the fields of public health, disease control, primary health care and health communications.

He was an assistant health secretary from 1992 to 1997. Before his appointment, he was assistant vice president of United Laboratories Inc. as well as vice president and general manager of Health Delivery Systems Inc. Prior to that, he was vice president for medical service of Aetna Health Care Inc.

He graduated with an AB degree, honorable mention, at the Ateneo de Manila University. He later completed his degree in medicine in 1976 at the University of the Philippines and interned at the Brokenshire Memorial Hospital in Davao City. In 1982, he earned his master of science degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Dayrit has received numerous grants and awards. He was a British Council scholar from 1981 to 1982 and recognized as an Outstanding Young Scientist in 1990.

He has also authored and co-authored 40 local and international publications on infectious disease control and community health. He has been president of the Philippine Society of Epidemiology since 1996.