‘A man with heart and soul' – Irish medic Dr Mike Ryan to leave WHO leadership team next month
Dr Mike Ryan said the world is breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza (Niall Carson/PA)
Irish-born medic Dr Mike Ryan is not included in a revamped senior leadership team announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) which is facing a financial crunch.
Dr Ryan (60), who became a familiar face to people in this country and internationally during the Covid pandemic, was executive director of the Health Emergencies Programme.
He became known for his no-nonsense briefings about the virus.
However, in a trimmed-down executive team announced yesterday director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus did not name Dr Ryan in the new line-up and the post will be taken by Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne programme this morning, Dr David Nabarro, a WHO special envoy confirmed that Dr Ryan will leave the organisation next month.
It is understood that Dr Ryan wanted to leave two years ago but was asked to stay on
He said Dr Ryan had wanted to move on for some time.
It is understood that Dr Ryan wanted to leave two years ago but was asked to stay on.
'For him to be leaving is quite a shock,' he said.
Dr Ryan was not only very accomplished in the area of fighting disease, but he is 'also a man with heart and soul.'
He travelled with him a lot in stricken countries and Dr Ryan 'just gets to their hearts,' he added.
The WHO is facing financial difficulties in the wake of the US withdrawal from the agency.
Dr Ryan led the Health Emergencies Programme since 2019 and has worked for the organisation for many years.
Director general of the World Health Organization Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Dr Tedros said: 'This was, as you can imagine, an extremely difficult and painful decision for me.'
He thanked the outgoing members of the senior leadership team for 'their dedication, leadership and service.'
The senior leadership team was cut to seven members, from 14. WHO departments will be reduced to 34 from 76.
Dr Ryan worked out of Geneva but his family home is in Galway.
He spent his early childhood in Charlestown, Co Mayo, and, after the death of his father, the family moved to Curry in Sligo.
He studied medicine in NUI Galway and later trained as a surgeon specialising in orthopaedics and trauma.
He is married to another medic, Dr Maura Connolly, and they have two sons.
We are breaking the bodies and the minds of the children of Gaza
Dr Ryan has described what is happening to the people of Gaza as an 'abomination'.
Earlier this month he said :'We are breaking the bodies and the minds of the children of Gaza.'
He continued: 'We are starving the children of Gaza, because if we don't do something about it, we are complicit in what is happening before our very eyes.
'We are complicit. We are causing this, you, us and everyone who does nothing about it, it's horrific.
'The children of Gaza should not have to pay the price, as all children have done in the past, for the sins of anyone around them. This just has to stop.
'Any right-thinking human being will stand up and say, this just must stop.
'As a doctor, as a physician, as someone watching more than 1,000 children without limbs, thousands of children with spinal cord injuries and severe head injuries from which they'll never recover, thousands and thousands of children with severe psychological distress that they may never recover from.
'We are watching this unfold before our very eyes and we're not doing anything about it. As a physician, I'm angry. I'm angry with myself that I'm not doing enough.
'I'm angry with everyone here. I'm angry with you. I'm angry with the world.
'This should not be happening. It cannot continue. We have to stop.
'This is an abomination. It's an abomination.'
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