Dayrit: There is life after DOH

For outgoing Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit, there is life after his stint at the Department of Health (DOH).

"I love this job, but this is not a private (sector) job. If you are appointed, you can be replaced anytime, justifiably or not... You have to understand, that’s the way the political system works," he said while having dinner with health reporters Thursday night.

He was referring to his stay of nearly four and a half years at the helm of the DOH.

Last Tuesday, Dayrit announced his resignation after The STAR broke the story two days earlier. He was then attending a World Health Organization (WHO) conference in Cairo, Egypt.

Dayrit’s resignation takes effect on May 31 and he will be succeeded by Philippine Health Insurance Corp. president Dr. Francisco Duque III.

Dayrit has consistently denied he was pressured into leaving the DOH, claiming he just felt it was time to move on. However, he admitted that as early as August 2004, President Arroyo told him about her plan to make some changes in her Cabinet.

He said he was already planning to announce his resignation on May 11, but was preempted by the news leak.

"It actually made my job easier. For a while, there were so many speculations. But after my resignation came out in the papers and I confirmed it, the (speculations stopped)," Dayrit said.

He said that during the four years and three months that he was health secretary, "I already reached the peak of my career." The length of his stay, he added, was "time enough to finish a college degree, time enough to have two master’s degrees, and time enough to have a child who could be three years old by now."

Dayrit said he would consider his career options once his resignation takes effect.

He said that on top of his work as part of a WHO Commission for Social Determinants of Health, he was offered a full-time job at the global agency by no less than WHO director-general Dr. Jong-Wook Lee.

Dayrit is also thinking of going back to the academic world. He was a lecturer on community health, epidemiology and biostatistics at the Davao Medical School from 1979 to 1984.

"But the next thing I could do now is international work or clinical work. I can go into medical practice. That’s one of my options," he said.