Where there is love for medicine, there is love for humanity

There is a heated debate on global injustice, responsible work and EU regulation. Businesses play an important role in the realisation of human rights, and the forthcoming EU Corporate Social Responsibility Directive (CSDDD) will bring new obligations for European supply chains. Although our activities as Terveystalo are focused on the Nordic countries, our impact extends far beyond the area in which we operate.

During the remainder of 2024, we will assess the human rights impacts of our own operations and supply chains with the help of external experts. We identified that our most critical areas for development relate to responsible sourcing and supply chain ethics. This is also the case for other players in the industry, as healthcare supply chains involve so-called higher risk raw materials, whose global supply chains can be long and extend to countries whose working cultures and legislation do not yet take into account the safety and ethical aspects of work that seem commonplace to us. These include steel and conflict minerals for surgical instruments and medical equipment, cotton and oil for medical supplies, and rubber for gloves. This is often the most challenging part of the value chain, as not all variables are under our control.

The most important thing health. Because there is more than just it.

So when promoting health, we must be careful not to do so at the expense of others. We have come a long way in Finland and in the West. We can focus on how work increases well-being, rather than how work can be fatal. Upstream in the supply chains of raw materials for health care, the situation may not be as good everywhere. And this is where the value base of the organisations' own operations is weighed against which partnerships are chosen.

At Terveystalo, we are committed to ethical business practices in our procurement. We strive to prevent, mitigate and remedy the negative impacts of our actions - for our employees, our customers and our supply chain. Our aim is to evaluate our sustainable procurement practices and better identify ESG risks in our supply chain. We work with our suppliers to promote human rights. Our Supplier Code of Ethics includes human rights requirements such as the prohibition of forced labour and child labour, prevention of discrimination and ensuring safe working conditions, in addition to environmental issues and ethical business practices. In doing so, we take responsibility for ensuring that our partnership with you is an equal commitment to a more equal world.

We are aware that our own journey to promote human rights has only just begun. We have recently published our first human rights policy and, with its support, we have embarked on a journey together with nearly 1,000 organisations as part of the UN Global compact accelerator programme.  We understand that we need to continuously improve our practices and processes to manage, reduce and eliminate the adverse human rights impacts of our business. Piece by piece.