US Department of Health cuts 10,000 official employees, streamlines half of the apparatus

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on March 27 that it will cut 10,000 full-time employees in health agencies, according to CNN.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the above official staff reduction after 10,000 employees voluntarily left, shrinking the HHS workforce from about 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000.

The US Department of Health and Human Services building in Washington DC on March 27.

In addition, about 5,200 probationary employees were terminated last month. Most of those probationary employees are on leave while their fate awaits a decision in federal court. HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said probationary employees were not included in the latest layoff announcement.

In a new announcement, HHS said it will consolidate from 28 to 15 departments and will cut regional offices from 10 to five. HHS estimates the workforce reduction will save $1.8 billion a year.

HHS said its new priority would be to end "America's chronic disease epidemic by focusing on safe, healthy food, clean water, and removing environmental toxins."

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“We are not just reducing the sprawl of bureaucracy. We are realigning the organization around our core mission and new priorities to reverse the chronic disease epidemic,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “The department will do more at less cost to taxpayers,” Kennedy added.

In a video posted to social media X on March 27, Mr. Kennedy acknowledged that this would be a “painful time” as health agencies downsize, but promised that the agencies would become more efficient, do more with less, and focus on a new mission. “No American will be left behind,” Mr. Kennedy said. “I want every HHS employee to wake up every morning and ask themselves, what can I do to restore the health of Americans today?”

Meanwhile, public health experts say that with such a reduction in the number of official staff, maintaining services will be a challenge based on the current public health workload, according to CNN.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bo-y-te-my-cat-giam-10000-nhan-vien-chinh-thuc-tinh-gon-mot-nua-bo-may-185250328080518741.htm