Safe and Mercury-Free

SAFE AND MERCURY-FREE
Envi-health group calls stringent support for greener health measures

Be safe. Ban mercury.

Those are Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia’s (HCWH-SEA) message to the Department of Health (DoH) and the rest of the public.

“For years, we have called on the public especially the health care sector to support the phase-out of mercury. But now we have come to the point where phasing-out no longer suffice,” said Faye Ferrer, HCWH-SEA Program Officer for Mercury in Health Care.

“We need stringent measures and bolder moves in order to provide safer environment to the public. Phase-out of mercury products and then thorough banning of mercury are needed at this time,” said Ferrer.

In Las Pinas, 18 year old victim of mercury poisoning and his mother filed a civil case against St. Andrew’s School in Paranaque for the poisoning that happened in 2006. A Science teacher negligently passed around a beaker of mercury for the class to see and feel the element. To date, the victim is unable to go to school and suffers Parkinsonism, nerve damage and constant tremors and fevers.

“Although outside the health care premises, the situation shows how a small lapse can damage the future of one person.”

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Health in Argentina published a resolution banning mercury sphygmomanometer in their country. The resolution gives 90 days to end production and 180 days to end any commercialization of the product.

HCWH-SEA visited Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral for a status report on mercury phase-out, to dos after the phase-out, possible banning of mercury and how the health sector including the DoH can raise the issue these election months.

Moving forward the phase-out
In the regional conferences on mercury phase-out and proper health care waste management organized by HCWH-SEA and the DoH Center for Health Development (CHD), the group was alarmed to know that mercury phase-out in Rural Health Units (RHUs) are so behind and “majority of them are not even aware of the existence of Administrative Order 21.”

AO 21 mandates the gradual phase-out of mercury devices in all Philippine health care facilities and institutions by 2010.

Since the devolution of health services, Barangay Health Units (BHUs), RHUs, city health, municipal, district and provincial hospitals are now run by the barangay, municipal, city and provincial governments.

“It shows lack of coordination in information dissemination between the DoH and the local governments,” Ferrer pointed out.

“While we are glad that PhilHealth has already included mercury phase-out in its benchbook as one of the requirements for accreditation, majority of the hospitals, especially DoH hospitals in the regions we visited are complaining about funding for mercury alternatives,” said Ferrer.

In the 2009 General Appropriations Act (GAA), 13.2 M was allocated for purchase of non-mercurial devices for the 66 DoH-controlled hospitals. This however remains unreleased.

Another issue raised is the next steps after the implementation of total phase-out in September 2010.

“According to the AO, hospitals will have to provide temporary storage area for phased-out mercurial devices. But there is still a need for a safer intermediate storage. Continuously storing them in the hospital premises is like keeping a ticking time bomb in their facility,” Ferrer expressed.

The call is still on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to look into the matter of intermediate storage.

“Then there is also the issue on banning mercury devices. Recently the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) banned three Chinese cosmetics because it contained mercury. It will be so much easier to phase-out mercury in health care if we can stop the market from bringing these products to us,” Ferrer added.

Going Green
Mercury phase-out has many nitty-gritty details and the May 2010 election candidates must likewise partake in this enormous yet very simple task.

HCWH-SEA presented the Green Health Covenant to Cabral asking the DoH family to enjoin their candidates to be supportive of mercury phase-out and other green health care agenda.

“If we are serious of the phase-out, we need to make sure that whoever will be elected in May will be supportive of this. That such candidate will acknowledge the dangers of mercury, that they are open to safer alternatives and that they will allocate budget and be supportive of other agencies in setting-up intermediate temporary storage place,” said Ferrer. “We hope that such candidate will also be supportive of banning mercury.”

“We need to be keen in choosing green health candidates.”

The Covenant signatories likewise pledge to encourage candidates to work for proper health care waste management acknowledging its importance to general waste management leading to a zero waste Philippines; recognize dangerous chemicals in health care and work towards regulating its use and disposal; and work towards a health setting responsive to climate change.

The Covenant now has more than 900 signatories from health care units in Regions 1, 2, CALABARZON and online signatories. http://GreenHealthCovenant.multiply.com.


HCWH is 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 on HCWH-SEA, see www.noharm.org.ph.


Sonia G. Astudillo, +63 918 9182369, sonia@hcwh.org
Faye Ferrer, +63 920 9327151; faye@hcwh.org