The US Ministry of Health and Human Services (HHS) will release 10,000 workers and close the entire agencies, including those who oversee billions of dollars for addiction and health centers in the Community throughout the United States.
HHS secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK) criticized the department that oversees the ineffective “extended bureaucracy” in the video that announced restructuring on Thursday. He picked up 82,000 workers of the Americans’ health department.
“I want to promise you now that we will do more with less,” Kennedy said in the video, posted on social networks.
The restructuring plan covers a weekly torment in the top health care department in the state, which was involved in rumors of mass release, recall of $ 11 billion in public health financing for cities and counties, a mask response to an epidemic of measles and controversial remarks about vaccines from his new leader.
Still, Kennedy said that a “painful period” lies before the HHS, which is responsible for monitoring infectious diseases, food inspection and hospitals and monitoring health insurance programs for almost half of the country.
‘Make Americans again’
Overall, the department will reduce the 62,000 positions, losing almost a quarter of its staff – 10,000 jobs through dismissal and another 10,000 workers who have retired and offers for voluntary separation encouraged by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Public health experts, doctors, current and former HHS workers quickly broke Kennedy’s plans, warning that they may have countless consequences for millions of people across the country.
“These staff reduces public health and food safety,” said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy in Consumer Reports reports. “They cause serious concern that the promise of the administration that Americans become healthy could become nothing more than an empty promise.”
But Kennedy, announcing restructuring, exploded HHS because he did not improve the life of Americans and did not do enough to reduce chronic disease and cancer rates.
“All that money,” Kennedy said of $ 1.7’s annual budget, “failed to improve the health of Americans.”
Federal healthcare professionals – stationed throughout the country in agencies, including National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Medication Administration (FDA), as in Maryland – described the shock, fear and anxiety that went through their offices on Thursday. Workers did not receive a notification of cuts in advance, several said Associated Press, and many remained uncertain about whether their jobs were on the chopping block.
“It is incredibly difficult and frustrating and disturbing that we do not really know where we are standing while trying to continue working,” said FDA officer, who spoke about the state of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “We were negative and handicapped and that this guillotine only hangs over the neck.”
‘Drastically scales’
Planned to reduce the FDA jobs would not affect inspectors or reviewers of medicines, medical devices or foods, HHS said.
Completions are likely to delay the examinations of drugs and medical products or cause missed deadlines, said Eva Temkin, a lawyer at Arnold & Porter who advises clients about medicines and medical applies. “There is a real risk that this results in a delayed approach to patients,” she said.
The strategic readiness and response administration, currently an independent HHS agency with 1,000 employees will be folded into the disease control and prevention centers (CDC).
They will see a decrease in staff in their 27 institutes and centers.
“The only way to reduce this high percentage of our staff, along with 35 percent of the contractual reductions that are directed, is drastically reduced by what they do throughout the Committee,” Nate said, brought in Nate, a recently striking director of the Secretary -General Secretariat.
Medicare and Medicaid services centers were relatively spared, with a decrease in only about 300 employees. It was not immediately clear from which to reach the HHS division or office of the remaining 2,600 cuts.
As part of the restructuring, the 10 regional offices of the Department will be reduced to five and its 28 departments in 15, including a new Healthy America or AHA administration, which will combine dependence dependence, toxic substances and work safety in one central office.
AHA will include the Office of Assistant Secretary for Health, Health Reserves and Services Administration, Drug Abuse Administration and Mental Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Register and National Institute for Occupational Safety.
It will be divided into the divisions of primary care, the health of mothers and child, mental health, environmental health, HIV/AIDS -AI labor, the department said.
Changes centralize functions such as communications, human resources, IT and policy planning that have currently expanded to several health agencies, including FDA, CDC and NIH. The agencies report the healthcare to the secretary, but traditionally they have been acting somewhat independent of the HHS -in the White House.
HHS said that he would also combine the office of assistant secretary for planning and assessing this Agency for Research and Quality of Health Care Agency at the new Strategy Office that will conduct a survey informing Kennedy’s policy.
Additional cuts are not planned at the moment, the department said.
‘Pretty devastated’
The cuts and consolidation go far deeper than anyone expected, the employee said.
“We are all quite devastated,” said a member of the staff, who spoke about the state of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “We don’t know what that means for public health.”
CDC Workers Union leaders said Atlanta said they had received a notice from HHS on Thursday morning that the reduction would primarily focus on administrative positions, including human resources, finances, procurement and information technology.
