Olivia Wigzell says that medical competence is central and should always be included in the preparation of cases when the authority makes recommendations, guidelines and conclusions.
The state epidemiologist should participate in the preparation of these cases and at the presentations, she says to TT.
She adds that the state epidemiologist is attached to the management team as needed.
Regarding the criticism that medical competence is not in the management team, Wigzell says:
My task is to ensure that we get a good result of high quality, then it's more a matter of organization. So we have a consensus on the importance of competence. However, Magnus Gisslén has a different view on where it should be in the organization.
Ongoing discussion
In response to TT's question about why the authority did not want Gisslén to continue as state epidemiologist, Olivia Wigzell says that there has been an ongoing discussion between the parties about his role and that Magnus Gisslén was not satisfied with how it would develop.
–I do not want to interpret what he wanted more than that I understand that it is a different construction than the one that existed when I came, she says.
In connection with his resignation, Magnus Gisslén wrote a debate article in Dagens Nyheter where he presented his criticism.
I'm not saying that everyone in the management team needs to have it, but if you are the head of a department with medical responsibility, you should have deeper medical competence, he says to TT.
"Risk of prioritizing wrong"
Gisslén's definition of deeper medical competence is that a department head with medical responsibility should be a doctor with specialist competence in the field and have solid experience.
The management team decides how resources should be prioritized. If you do not have a deeper understanding of the issues, there is a risk that you prioritize wrong, he says.
Do you have any example of when this has happened?
When they withdrew recommendations for the handling of streptococcal sore throat. I consider it a consequence of lack of competence, because the advice was well anchored in science, he says.
"Incomprehensible"
According to Gisslén, there was more medical competence in the Public Health Agency's management team both before and during the pandemic. He points to the former directors general Johan Carlsson and Karin Tegmark Wisell as well as Anders Tegnell, who, unlike Gisslén, were part of the management team during their time as state epidemiologist.
He cannot answer why the composition of the management team has been changed.
For me, it's incomprehensible.
