The US department of health and human services (HHS) said on Thursday it would cut about 10,000 full-time jobs and close half of its regional offices, in a major overhaul of the department under health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
The latest job cuts, and about 10,000 recent voluntary departures, will reduce the number of full-time employees at the department to 62,000 from 82,000, the HHS said.
“We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organisation with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy Jr said.
US President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who oversees the department of government efficiency, have been gutting agencies as part of an effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy.
As part of the restructuring, 28 units of the HHS will be consolidated into 15 new divisions, including a new ‘Administration for a Healthy America’, or AHA.
AHA will combine offices in HHS that address addiction, toxic substances and occupational safety, among others, into one central office, the agency said.
The new units will also centralise functions such as external affairs, human resources and IT.
Reuters
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