Medicine Agency Director Resigns to Protest Move
Lääkelaitoksen ylijohtaja, professori Hannes Wahlroos
Image: YLE
Professor Hannes Wahlroos, Director-General of the National Agency for Medicines, is resigning to protest the planned transfer of the agency to Kuopio, eastern Finland.
Wahlroos has severely criticised plans to relocate the agency, saying that the move threatens to wipe out pharmaceutical know-how in the whole country.
“I have served the Finnish state for 30 years in pharmaceutical administration," said Wahlroos. "I have developed and led the National Agency for Medicines since it was established in 1993. Now that great changes are under preparation in medicine administration, including regional dispersal, it is the right time for a change in power.”
Wahlroos submitted his resignation to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health on Tuesday. The ministry is moving the institution from Helsinki to Kuopio, even though most of the staff would prefer to stay in the Helsinki region. In addition to Wahlroos, 16 of the agency’s 200 employees have quit.
A final decision by Minister of Social Affairs and Health Liisa Hyssälä on shifting the operations of the agency to Kuopio is to be made later this month.
YLE