Nurses 4 Palestine said Friday that Carmel O’Boyle, chair of the RCN Council, had confirmed that Teva UK would no longer sponsor the upcoming RCNi Nursing Leadership Summit, scheduled for Oct. 30, Anadolu Agency reported.
According to the group, O’Boyle announced the decision in a Sept. 23 letter to the union. Nurses 4 Palestine said the move followed sustained campaigning by healthcare professionals and union members calling on UK healthcare institutions to end partnerships with companies they said were linked to Israel and alleged violations of international law.
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The campaign was also supported by UK Healthcare Petitions to the Royal Colleges, which had raised concerns about the RCN’s partnership with Teva.
Nurses 4 Palestine said the RCN acknowledged that additional due diligence into Teva Pharmaceuticals’ global activities, including operations subject to legal sanctions and public scrutiny, had found the company incompatible with the ethical standards expected of the nursing profession.
The RCN has also announced a comprehensive review of its commercial partnership policy, according to the campaign group. Nurses 4 Palestine said the union directly credited evidence submitted by campaigning organizations in an open letter dated Sept. 10.
The decision comes amid continued campaigning by healthcare workers in the UK over the relationships between professional institutions and companies accused by campaigners of having links to Israel’s military or government.
Nurses 4 Palestine welcomed the decision, saying collective action by frontline healthcare workers could influence institutional policies and corporate partnerships.
