new wave of layoffs in American health agencies – Liberation
Health attacked. The Trump administration gave the green light on Tuesday, April 1, to a wide wave of officials of civil servants working at the Ministry of Health and in health agencies. This announcement is part of a major restructuring plan, which provides for the abolition of 10,000 positions, in parallel with The federal purge orchestrated by Elon Muskexploding the number of lost jobs. According to photos and testimonies published on social networks, the employees learned their dismissal early Tuesday morning by email or arriving directly at their workplace, their access badge having stopped working.
These layoffs affect various services from the ministry and federal agencies which it supervises, such as those responsible for the approval of new drugs (FDA), the response to epidemics (CDC) or medical research (NIH). « It is these people who make sure that the drugs you and your children take are sure. They are those who do and supervise research on cancer, children’s health and many other things. These are those who ensure that the new devices used by doctors and patients are effective ”, denounced on X the emergency doctor and professor at Brown Craig Spencer University.
According to American media, several senior officials of these agencies have been offered a reallocation in isolated places, in the middle of Alaska or Oklahoma. « The FDA as we know it no longer exists », Robert Califf, former boss of this agency on the LinkedIn network, was outraged. « I think history will remember that it was a huge mistake », he continued.
The new Minister of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jrhad announced last week his intention to fight against « Bureaucratic proliferation » and to do it « Much more at lower cost », Especially on chronic diseases such as diabetes or obesity. Its plan provides in particular with the passage of staff of 82,000 full -time employees to 62,000, voluntary or early retirements addressed to the 10,000 layoffs planned.
These dismissals occur simultaneously at the entrance according to Jay Bhattacharya at the head of the agency responsible for medical research (NIH). In an internal email consulted by AFP, this economist chosen by the Trump administration recognized « Deep impact » that these dismissals would have « On the main administrative functions of NIH ». This overhaul of American health agencies also occurs at the very moment when the United States faces a large-scale health crisis with the return of measles, a very contagious serious illness, which contaminated more than 480 people and left two deadthe first recorded in the country in a decade. The meaning of timing.
