Report: Philips to continue to deliver hospital equipment to Russia

PARIS, May 10 (PRIME) -- Dutch health technology company Philips will continue to deliver hospital equipment to Russia despite its operation in Ukraine, Chief Executive Officer Roy Jakobs said on Tuesday.

“The right to healthcare is universal, and we are part of the system delivering healthcare,” Jakobs said at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Amsterdam.

“We do this in Russia, as we do in Ukraine.”

Jakobs said Philips’ activities in Russia centered on maintenance and delivery of hospital equipment such as large medical scanners, but it stopped the sale of its personal healthcare products there – except for maternal care products.

The Russian operations are not profitable, he added.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba last year included Philips in a group of 50 large international companies he accused of making “blood profits” by remaining active in Russia.

“International companies which remain working in Russia are directly funding Russia’s war crimes,” Kuleba said in a post on Twitter in November 2022.

Dutch shareholders association VEB urged Philips to end its activities in Russia at the shareholders’ meeting.

“It is impossible to remain neutral in this conflict,” its director Gerben Everts said.

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