The United States Health Secretary Thomas Price resigned on Friday after being criticised for using costly private charter planes for government businesses, Reuters reported. Don Wright, currently serving as the deputy assistant secretary for health, was appointed the acting health secretary.
Price had earlier apologised for taking 26 trips on private flights since May, which cost $400,000 (approximately Rs 2.6 crore) to the government. On Thursday, he had promised to repay $52,000 (approximately Rs 34 lakh), which is the cost of his seats on private charter flights. “The taxpayers won’t pay a dime for my seat on those planes,” he had said.
US government officials, excluding those dealing with national security matters, are supposed to take commercial flights for work related travel. Three other members of the Donald Trump administration are under scrutiny for using private charter planes for government work, BBC reported.
Referring to the private plane scandal, Price in his resignation letter said he regretted that the recent events created a distraction from the work of the health department, Reuters reported.
President Donald Trump had earlier said he was unhappy with the expense made to the taxpayers. “He [Price] is a very, very fine man,” Trump had said hours before the health secretary resigned. “We are going to make a decision sometime tonight.”
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