Demonstrators protest against U.S. tech firm control of NHS.    (Photo: Associated Press)

London, July 11 (RHC)-- All the patient data at hospitals throughout the UK is now controlled by an American private data analytics company, Palantir Technologies, founded by the Trump donor Peter Thiel, with funding from the CIA.

The company now manages the National Health Service's new Federated Data Platform, a system covering 67 million people and rolled out in late 2023.

A controversial American tech company known for its links to U.S. intelligence and the Israeli military sparks fierce opposition from UK doctors and privacy advocates.  Doctors with the British Medical Association say they fear it could erode public trust.

Medical personnel have also raised concerns about Palantir's track record.  Dr. Bob Gill, a doctor at a London hospital, told reporters: "We are not entirely sure what use will be made of this data.  Will it be strictly for the benefit of the patients, or will this be sold on and used for other purposes, such as part of an increasingly draconian surveillance apparatus?  It is very obscure and you cannot gain the trust of patients if you cloud things in secrecy."

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has accused the company of profiting from genocide in Gaza.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has sharply criticized the United States for sanctioning a UN-appointed human rights expert who has been vocal in documenting Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

The company's chief executive officer, Alex Karp, admitted in April this year that Palantir had helped Israel kill Palestinians in Gaza.  Karp, the CEO Palantir Technologies, claimed: "Mostly terrorists, that's true."

As well as data analytics, Palantir provides artificial intelligence enabled military targeting systems.  The British Medical Association, the BMA, says that it is at odds with health care ethics.

Palantir has dismissed the criticism, saying its software will reduce waiting times and improve efficiency.  Critics of the Palantir NHS partnership say this is about more than a piece of software, it's about sovereignty, trust, and whether or not a private American firm with Palestinian blood on its hands should have control of the health data of an entire nation.

[ SOURCE:  PRESS TV and ASSOCIATED PRESS ]