{"id":366790,"date":"2025-08-23T08:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T08:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/366790\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T08:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T08:37:09","slug":"more-than-50-consultants-urge-state-to-stop-using-israeli-medicines-where-viable-alternatives-exist-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/366790\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 50 consultants urge State to stop using Israeli medicines where \u2018viable alternatives\u2019 exist \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 50 consultants at Children\u2019s Health Ireland<\/a> (CHI) have called on the State to stop using medicines manufactured by an Israeli company where \u201cviable alternatives\u201d are available.<\/p>\n

Teva Pharmaceuticals<\/a>, an Israeli multinational, is one of the world\u2019s largest manufacturers of generic and specialist drugs. The company, which makes Sudocrem, has a big presence in Ireland and is one of the largest suppliers of generic medicines to the HSE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Teva said any boycott of its medicine could \u201cimpose a risk on the health and wellbeing\u201d of patients. <\/p>\n

In a letter to CHI chief executive Lucy Nugent and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill<\/a> on Friday, 57 paediatric consultants say they are concerned about \u201cthe ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza<\/a>, which has been widely recognised as meeting the legal definition of genocide<\/a> by leading international authorities, including the United Nations and the International Court of Justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

The doctors\u2019 letter says \u201cwe respectfully request that CHI take immediate steps to discontinue the procurement and use of pharmaceuticals manufactured by Teva where viable alternatives exist\u201d.<\/p>\n

It claims \u201cTeva, as Israel\u2019s largest pharmaceutical company, operates under the jurisdiction of and contributes to the economy of a state currently under investigation for genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n

It argues that taxes paid by Teva to the Israeli government \u201cdirectly funds the diplomatic and military resources employed by the Israeli government to carry out a genocide and silence dissent domestically and internationally\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company provides Israeli forces with medical supplies and donations. These resources have been used to slaughter patients, health professionals and utterly destroy the healthcare infrastructure in Gaza,\u201d the letter says.<\/p>\n

The consultants say that continuing to buy medicines from Teva \u201cundermines CHI\u2019s commitment to ethical and humanitarian principles\u201d. While the letter says the consultants \u201cdo not advocate for any measure that would compromise clinical care\u201d, they are calling on CHI to swap to \u201ctherapeutically equivalent alternatives\u201d from Teva drugs, if they are available. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Gaza famine conditions likely to spread, says UN-backed hunger agencyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The letter requests a meeting with Ms Nugent \u201cto discuss this proposal in more detail and explore how CHI can implement this change effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the letter\u2019s signatories, Thomas Donnelly, clinical speciality lead for general orthopaedics and trauma at CHI, said: \u201cAs consultants, we have a duty of care to all patients, and we see a direct contradiction between these very public values and the procurement of medications from Teva.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Donnelly said Teva Pharmaceuticals is \u201chelping fund a genocide in which children have been shot, shelled, and now starved\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot continue to be complicit in these barbaric acts against children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Teva said it adheres to the \u201chighest standards in ethics and business practices\u201d. He said its patients \u201crely on regular and reliable supply of medicines\u201d and, as one of the largest manufacturers of generic medicines, Teva remains \u201ccommitted to ensuring that our quality medicines remain available to our patients, regardless of their religion, beliefs, or ethnicity\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny boycott on Teva may impose a risk on the health and wellbeing of those patients, the healthcare systems we serve, our global workforce and their families,\u201d the spokesman said. <\/p>\n

He said Teva is \u201cproud of our significant contribution to the State\u201d in Ireland. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Journalists protest over press death toll in Gaza amid accusations of Israeli \u2018media blackout\u2019 strategyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year our activities directly contributed $226m to the Irish economy, and our broad portfolio of generic medicines has helped the Irish health system realise more than \u20ac1.5 billion through generic substitutions over the past decade,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

CHI said its chief executive \u201creceived the letter on Friday afternoon and is reviewing same\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Department of Health said it \u201cdoes not play a role in the procurement of any medicine\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 50 consultants at Children\u2019s Health Ireland (CHI) have called on the State to stop using medicines…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[59572,10982,105,4348,21110,837,16949,128430,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-366790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-children-s-health-ireland-chi","9":"tag-gaza-strip","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-hse","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-jennifer-carroll-macneill","15":"tag-teva-pharmaceuticals","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115077175200244385","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}