A spate of resignations is causing problems for the National Agency for Medicines.
Labour unions representing state employees, as well as the Finnish Medical Association, say that the situation is encumbering the agency’s ability to react to urgent medical safety issues.
The agency is also losing revenue, as it is forced to turn down requests to evaluate applications international licences for new medicines.
Shop stewards at the agency submitted an appeal on the problem to acting director-general Marja-Liisa Partanen.
Partanen was appointed to the post after the resignation of Hannes Wahlroos in January. Wahlroos had headed the National Agency for Medicines for 15 years.
The problems stem from a decision by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health to set up a new centre for pharmaceutical control in Kuopio. In practice, this means that the National Agency for Medicines is to be relocated from Helsinki to Kuopio.
A bill on the matter is to be put before Parliament in early May. The matter is urgent, if the new centre is to start operations in the autumn, as planned.
After the decision on the move, nearly 30 members of staff at the agency have resigned, most of whom are top experts in the field. Three of the six head physicians of the medicine safety department have left, and five of the nine head physicians of the sales licence section have also gone.
The unions are demanding the cancellation of the relocation plans.
