WASHINGTON: Amid a mushrooming scandal over appointment delays, falsified-record keeping and other problems plaguing the strained health care system for America’s former warriors, President Barack Obama has announced the resignation of the Department of Veterans Affairs chief.

Obama accepted Eric Shinseki’s resignation with “considerable regret” during a White House meeting, just two days after a scathing internal report found broad, deep-seated problems in the sprawling health care system, which is struggling to keep up with the number of vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Shinseki, a retired Japanese-American four-star general who had overseen Veterans Affairs since the start of Obama’s presidency, had faced mounting calls to step down as the controversy ballooned into a major issue in Washington. In the 36 hours that followed the findings Wednesday, Democrats in tough congressional re-election races this November joined Republicans in clamoring for Shinseki’s resignation.

Obama said Shinseki, a Vietnam War veteran and the highest-ranking Asian-American in U.S. military history, had served with honor.