Surgical instruments purchased by the NHS are being made by sweatshop labour, including child labour, in the developing world, according to a BMA report.
At the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight, the BMA’s Medical Fair and Ethical Trade Group has launched an information campaign about dangerous working conditions and child labour in surgical device factories in Pakistan that make products used in NHS care.
The BMA has been working with the NHS in England to produce guidance on ethical purchasing that will soon be published. It calls on the Scottish Government to adopt similar guidance in Scotland.
Dr Mahmood Bhutta, advisor to the Medical Fair and Ethical Trade Group, said: “There is evidence to suggest that many supplies used in the NHS are produced in unhealthy, unsafe and unfair working conditions. Workers in the developing world are poorly paid and are exposed to hazardous conditions where they risk serious injury and even death.
“For example, many surgical instruments are made in Pakistan where workers work twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Some suffer serious injuries due to poor standards of health and safety. There is also a use of child labour, with some workers as young as seven. It seems perverse that labourers around the world are risking their lives to supply us with equipment to save British lives.
“We want to work with the NHS and the industry to make positive changes. Fair trade is not just about the products we purchase, it is also about things that are purchased on our behalf.”
Surgical device factory in Pakistan