GOING MERCURY-FREE, ONE STEP AT A TIME

November 18, 2009

Contact:
Sonia G. Astudillo, Communications Officer, +63 918 9182369, sonia@hcwh.org
Faye Ferrer, Program Officer for Mercury, +63 920 9327151; faye@hcwh.org

GOING MERCURY-FREE, ONE STEP AT A TIME

Puerto Princesa City – “With more than 20 medicare, district, municipal and private hospitals and rural health units in the whole of Palawan, phasing out of mercury in this province alone would translate to 1.4% phase-out in the 1,847 hospitals in the whole country. One province, 1% is a tremendous leap towards our 2010 goal of mercury-free health care,” said Faye Ferrer, Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA) Program Officer for Mercury.

To date, more than 50 hospitals in the country have phased-out or are phasing-out mercury devices in their facilities.

In September 2008, the Department of Health signed Administrative Order 21 mandating the gradual phase-out of all mercury-containing devices in all Philippine health care facilities and institutions by 2010.

AO 21 requires all hospitals to immediately discontinue the distribution of mercury thermometers in the patients’ admission/discharge kits and to follow the guidelines for the gradual phase-out of mercury. Another provision is the requirement to all new health care facilities applying for a license to operate to submit an inventory of all mercury-containing devices that will be used in their facilities and a corresponding elimination program.
Finding alternatives
According to Ester Borja, chairperson of the Waste Management Committee of the Philippine Heart Center, “the moment we heard of the dangers of mercury, we immediately processed the gradual phasing-out of mercury—made an audit of existing mercurial thermometers and blood pressure device and then sent a letter to the Director for approval to replace these with safer mercury-free alternatives.”

PHC then called on suppliers to provide information on alternatives to mercury devices, conducted a series of tests to know which the best alternative is. Alternatives are widely available in the market.

Although initially faced with issues on patients’ response to alternatives, accuracy, affordability and disposal of phased-out devices, “patient safety became the driving force for PHC.”

“Considering the hazards to patients, hospital staff and the environment, we support the DoH in phasing out mercury in hospitals,” Borja added.

Ferrer added that such a move will also be easier now that the national budget (2009) provides for a Php13.2 million allocation for the purchase of mercury-free thermometers in 66 government hospitals. This however is still unreleased.

PhilHealth is likewise showing support through the new Benchbook which will contain provisions of the AO as one of the requirements to get PhilHealth accreditation.

Another challenge
Another issue that never seems to find an immediate solution is finding a disposal area to the phased-out mercury devices. “Intermediate disposal on a regional scale is ideal,” Ferrer pointed out.
HCWH-SEA and other groups are calling on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to provide a temporary storage area for the mercury wastes. “We cannot leave hospitals to clean-up all the mercury mess alone.”
“Although several hospitals have phased-out mercury and have in their facility a temporary storage, disposal issue remains frustratingly unaddressed,” she pointed out.
She added however that it must not discourage hospitals from phasing-out mercury. “Everyone must play their part. While one sector is looking for a disposal area, the hospital sector must be busy phasing-out mercury and finding alternatives. We hope that in 2010, all Philippine hospitals will be mercury-free and we will have a final resting place for mercury.”

Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia is part of an international coalition of more than 470 organizations in 52 countries, working to transform the health care sector worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. For more information, please visit www.noharm.org.ph


Additional Notes:
Dangers of Mercury: Mercury inhaled as vapor and absorbed through the lungs may cause tremors, emotional changes (mood swings, irritability, nervousness, excessive shyness), insomnia, neuromuscular changes (weakness, muscle atrophy, twitching), headaches, disturbances in sensations, changes in nerve responses, performance deficits on tests of cognitive function. Higher exposure may cause kidney defects, respiratory failure and death.

World Health Organization (WHO) reported as early as 1991 that a safe level of mercury exposure, below which there is no adverse effects, has never been established. In a policy paper they issued, it presented 3-pronged short, medium and long-term measures that include (a) development and implementation of plans to reduce the use of mercury equipment and replace it with alternatives, (b) increase efforts to reduce the risk of unnecessary mercury equipment in hospitals and (c) a ban of mercury-containing devices and promotion of alternatives.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), on the other hand, formulated a Mercury Program designed to raise awareness of the global environmental hazards of mercury after its Governing Council concluded that there is sufficient evidence of significant global adverse impacts from mercury to warrant further international action.