HCWH welcomes DOH move towards a mercury-free RP health system

August 22, 2008

HEALTH CARE WITHOUT HARM WELCOMES DOH MOVE TOWARDS A MERCURY-FREE RP HEALTH SYSTEM

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH)-Southeast Asia commends the Department of Health (DOH) for the recent signing of Administrative Order (AO) 2008-0021 that will phase-out the use of mercury devices in all health care facilities in the Philippines over the next two years.

“We welcome this move from the DOH. By taking this step the Philippines is playing a leadership role in the world-wide effort to eliminate mercury in health care. [i] HCWH will make sure that the AO is fully implemented, until all mercury-containing devices--including sphygmomanometers-- are phased-out by 2010,” said Faye Ferrer, HCWH-SEA Program Coordinator for Mercury.

HCWH-SEA originally crafted the AO which mandates the gradual phase-out of thermometers, sphygmomanometers and other mercury-containing devices. The work in the Philippines is part of an international campaign led by HCWH and others to eliminate mercury in health care globally over the next decade.

The AO signed last week mandates all hospitals to immediately discontinue the distribution of mercury thermometers in the patient’s admission/discharge kits. Further, it requires all hospitals to follow the guidelines for the gradual phase-out of mercury in two years. [ii]

“With this Administrative order we are pleased that the DOH is committed to phasing-out not just the mercury thermometers but sphygmomanometers and all the other mercury-containing devices,” Ferrer added.

“The challenge for us and the Health Department is to make it happen and to make it happen within the specified two years,” she pointed out.

Ferrer said that even before the signing of the AO, more than fifty hospitals in the Philippines have either phased-out or is in the process of phasing-out mercury, first of these is the Philippine Heart Center (PHC).

According to Carmencita Lingan, Nurse at PHC, “the shift to mercury alternatives is doable, affordable and is economically-feasible.”

“This for us is the true essence of providing health care—a health care that is safe to the people and less toxic to the environment,” she added.

Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) president, Dr. Leah Pacquiz, on the other hand commends the signing of the AO saying this will make the health care system safe not just to the patients but to nurses and other health workers.

“The promotion of public safety is a key policy goal of Philippine nursing and we welcome this move of the DOH,” Pacquiz pointed out.

Sis. Arcelita Sarnillo, Administrator of St. Paul Hospital in Cavite added that the AO will make it easier for all hospitals to make the “necessary shift” from mercury devices to non-mercury alternatives. “With the AO and support from the government, we expect the shift to be done without delay.”

Ferrer, on the other hand pointed out that HCWH has worked with hospitals in other Asian countries, the US, the European Union, and Latin America to make the switch from mercury thermometers and other equipments that use mercury to mercury-free alternatives. “In the US you can’t buy a mercury thermometer anymore, and blood pressure devices are on their way out. Europe just banned mercury thermometers, and the city of Buenos Aires, one of the largest health care systems in Latin America is almost totally mercury-free.” [iii]

HCWH-SEA pledged to work closely with the DOH in providing support to hospitals around the country on its switch to an environmentally-friendly health care system.

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) is a global coalition of 473 organizations in more than 50 countries working to protect health by reducing pollution in health care sector. For more information, visit www.noharm.org.

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[i] In 2005, World Health Organization issued a policy paper with a 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.

[ii] Another salient provision of the AO 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 mercury elimination program.

[iii] Countries around the world are banning the use of mercury-containing devices for its risk to people, wildlife and the environment. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that affects the nervous system. It is fatal when inhaled and harmful if absorbed through the skin. High doses of vapors released by thermometer breakage may cause lung damage. While at lower doses it is harmful to the kidney and the nervous, digestive, respiratory and immune systems.