Baxter International to Cut 200 Jobs in Irvine by Next Year : Employment: Hospital supply company plans to restructure, reduce overall payroll by 4,500 positions.

Baxter International Inc.’s announcement that it will cut its payroll by 4,500 over the next five years will mean a loss of 200 jobs in Orange County, officials said Wednesday.

Seventy-five people were scheduled to receive a 60-day notice Wednesday that their jobs are being eliminated, said Michael Mussallem, president of the Edwards Critical Care division of Baxter in Irvine. An additional 125 jobs will be cut in the first half of 1994, he said. Most of those are manufacturing positions.

Baxter, the world’s largest hospital supply company, said Tuesday that it will restructure its operations, taking a $700-million charge in the current quarter to cover costs of the reorganization.

The company, based in Chicago, employs about 2,400 people in Irvine. The division there makes cardiology products, including artificial heart valves, balloons and catheters for heart surgery.

The elimination of jobs here reflects a desire to offer a lower price on a catheter that recently won federal approval, Mussallem said.

The catheter was made in Irvine while it was still being developed, but full-scale manufacturing will be at Baxter’s 1,000-employee plant in Anasco, Puerto Rico, Mussallem said.

“This is a very difficult move for us, but it is important to respond to our customers,” he said. The layoffs here “will be reflected in lower prices for our catheters.”

Employees who lose their jobs will be given severance pay and job counseling, Mussallem said. He was to break the news to employees at a gathering Wednesday afternoon.

The Irvine operation laid off 25 employees in July.