There is no peace at the Medicines Agency which seemed to have just emerged from a tiring restyling that lasted over a year. Its president Giorgio Palù, who already led the Agency during the toughest years of the pandemic, resigned two weeks after receiving reconfirmation as president. The choice was based on a lack of harmony with the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci and above all the assignment limited to only one year. The minister said he was “surprised” by the resignation and now announces that he wants to “appoint a successor with a broader temporal and professional mandate”
The one-year mandate is an “offensive and humiliating” choice
The resignation of the president of AIFA, Giorgio Palù, with a letter to the Agency’s Board of Directors a few weeks after the definition of the new Agency with the reform desired by the Government and its reconfirmation, shake the world of medicines and healthcare more generally. In Palù’s sights, the decree appointing me to the presidency of the Agency was deemed “offensive and humiliating towards my person and my scientific professional profile” due to the provision of the mandate lasting one year, among other things free of charge, linked to the fact that today Palù has reached the age limit (75 years). A choice which for the virologist is “at least equivocal on a legal level” and explains why: “Proof of this – he writes – is the fact that my first assignment as president (I was already retired) took place with a five-year mandate by the previous minister of health. The restrictive interpretation of the law by the current minister is adopted exclusively towards me – he points out – in clear contrast with the appointment decrees just adopted by the same minister for pensioners over seventy called to direct the ISS (Higher Institute of Health) or to participate as consultants in the CSE», Single Scientific-Economic Commission, «of Aifa».
«The issue is not the pay, proud of the reform»
The choice to resign also came in controversy with Minister Schillaci: «I inform you, after careful consideration, that the lack of harmony with the Minister and the absence of responses from the Government force me to resign as appointed President of Aifa hic and immediate”. «I regret the total lack of listening by the Minister in the choices made for Aifa», adds Palù who underlines that «the non-payment of the position certainly doesn’t worry me. Considering myself to be at the service of the res publica, I have in fact already carried out the functions of President of Aifa for three years without receiving any compensation or attendance fee, even refusing to be the holder of the organisation’s credit card”. However, the virologist says he is proud of «having brought about the reform of the Italian drug agency Aifa, of having conceived, promoted and largely drafted it, and I hope that this is useful to the agency. I don’t have much else to say.”
Minister Schillaci’s reply: «Stonished»
Minister Schillaci replied with a note: «I learn with amazement the reasons that led Professor Palù to resign as president of AIFA. I believe my silence was deliberately confused with the clear non-acceptance of requests not in line with the profound reform project of the Agency”. However, he adds, «I welcome the suggestion to appoint a successor with a broader temporal and professional mandate, capable of adding to a strong and qualified representation of Aifa within the European commissions», also «the ability to work in team for the good of the country.” He refers to a “lack of alignment of views on the project for the profound revision of the Agency and on the necessary ability to work as a team”, the Undersecretary of Health Marcello Gemmato
Political and expert reactions
A farewell, that of Palù, which the opposition reads as a sign of “drift” of Aifa itself. Schillaci, in fact, states the 5 Star Movement, “had repeatedly extolled the Aifa reform, but now we find ourselves with the Agency in disarray”. The senator says she is “indignant and worried about the future of AIFA”. Sandra Zampa (Pd), which speaks of the “total absence of institutional culture of the right”. The president of the Veneto Region states that he “shares the bitterness” of Palù, Luca Zaia. The comment from the Democratic Party senator is harsh Andrea Crisanti: «Palù’s resignation is the greatest gift he could give to Italy». Guido Rasi, microbiologist and former director of the EMA (the EU medicines agency) says he was «surprised» like the minister «because the law was known and clear. And I don’t think any initiative had been put in place to derogate from what the law required.” Rasi also reflects on another point, that is, on the burdens inherent in the role of “legal representative” of an organization like Aifa, a role which “involves full-time work and direct responsibility for everything you sign”. For Rasi, therefore, “it cannot be ruled out that the tasks linked to the role of legal representative, with the implications of a full-time job and direct personal responsibility, may also have influenced the decision” taken by Palù.
#Earthquake #AIFA #president #Palù #resigns #Humiliated #Schillaci #amazed
2024-03-19 02:44:53