Minister Hyssälä calls time: National Agency for Medicines to be moved to Kuopio
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Minister of Social Affairs and Health Liisa Hyssälä (Centre) put a stop to the public debate on the issue of plans to move the National Agency for Medicines from Helsinki to Kuopio.
On Monday she announced a decision that the agency would be moved, and that operations would start in the new location by August 2014.
Employees at the agency, who are generally opposed to the idea of relocating to Kuopio, were disappointed and surprised by the news.
Personnel spokeswoman Sirkku Saarela said that the staff at the agency had hoped that some kind of a compromise would have been possible. She said that a staff walkout might be possible on Tuesday.
Saarela also predicted that many agency employees will start looking for other jobs.
Hyssälä said that she believes that “the decision, in which the position of the personnel is secured, and special attention is paid to the continuity of operations, will be largely satisfactory” from the point of view of the agency’s employees.
She added that the five year period will give staff time to adjust to the new situation.
Hyssälä does not believe that the decision will lead to any mass resignations.
“At least according to information that I have received, the personnel has reacted positively to the five-year interim period..”
The abrupt decision came as a surprise to Heikki Palva, who is serving as the acting Director General of the agency. Director General Hannes Wahlroos resigned from his post last week.
On Friday, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health asked the agency for a report on how the agency’s tasks are being handled.
The National Agency for Medicines did not submit the report, because the situation had changed on Monday. “It is being made now, under the leadership of the ministry”, Palva says.
The decision was welcomed in Kuopio, where Mayor Petteri Paronen and Hannu Harjunheimo, the city’s municipal head of housing, promised that ample housing would be available for the staff.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 20.1.2009 - TODAY |
 Minister Hyssälä calls time: National Agency for Medicines to be moved to Kuopio |
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