RP HOSPITALS TO AUSTRIA: ENSURE PROJECTS ASSIST COUNTRY, NOT AGGRAVATE DEBT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 26, 2009

RP HOSPITALS TO AUSTRIA: ENSURE PROJECTS ASSIST COUNTRY, NOT AGGRAVATE DEBT

Manila – Several hospitals in the country, together with Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA) sent a letter to Austria Ambassador Herbert Jaeger calling for the cancellation of an Austrian loan used to purchase now mothballed medical incinerators for 26 hospitals run by the Department of Health.

The 1997 loan, which financed the Austrian project for the establishment of waste disposal facilities and upgrading of the medical equipment standard in Department of Health (DoH) hospitals, amounts to Php503 million. The government started paying the principal and interest in 2002 and now pays an average of US$2 million a year and will continue to pay until 2014.

The incinerators were decommissioned in 2003 with the enactment of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 prohibiting the use of incinerators.

According to Ronnel Lim, HCWH-SEA Anti-Incineration Program Officer, “the loan eats up a large portion of the government budget which could have been allotted instead to the delivery of basic health services.”

“Instead of easing up funding issues in government hospitals, the loan worsens it.”

Debt-ridden health
In 2008, total health budget is only 7.7 per cent of the total amount automatically allocated to debt interest payments. For 2009, health budget is less than one-tenth of debt interest.

“This is clearly culpable for our poor health situation,” he exclaimed.

He cited a global report placing Philippines 60th in the world health system, “awfully left behind by other Asian countries”—Singapore at 6th, Japan at 10th, Thailand at 47th, Malaysia at 49th and South Korea at 58th.

A recent report by Save the Children International revealed that only a third of Filipino children under the age of 5 get basic health care, making the Philippines one of the worst places for infants and mothers.

Another report said that two to three poor Filipino patients share one hospital bed in many of the government hospitals, while seven out of 10 Filipinos especially in the rural areas die without seeing a doctor or a health worker.

Lim said that the loan further aggravates the already poor health situation in the country.

He added that the money used to pay for the loan may be allotted to other projects, among which is the installation of non-burn treatment technology, such as autoclaves for disinfection of medical waste from hospitals.

Beyond toxic limit
Another questionable aspect of the incinerators is its failure to meet standards set by European Union limits in 2001.

“With the excessive emissions of the incinerators, they would have been difficult to operate in Austria,” Lim pointed out. “This is an obvious case of dumping of obsolete technologies to a 3rd world country.”

As stated in the letter signed by HCWH-SEA and the hospitals, “confirmatory tests done by DoH and WHO showed that dioxins and furan emissions was eight hundred seventy times the prevailing limit in the EU, of which Austria is a member.”

More than a popularity vote
Recognizing the onerous quality of the loan, the interest payment for the loan has been cancelled by the Philippine Congress in 2008. This was however vetoed by the President.

Earlier this year, 43 Congressmen signed the petition calling for the cancellation of the loan.

“We believe that by canceling the loan, the Austrian government could achieve the original purpose for which the loan as an official development assistance was originally intended, which was to help Philippine hospitals manage their infectious waste. As things stand now, the DOH hospitals don’t have money to invest in treatment technologies because of this loan that needs to be paid until 2014,” said Lim.

Signatories of the letters are: Sr. Norma Vicentillo, SPC and Loreta Sumawang (Notre Dame de Chartres Hospital, Baguio City), Wilson Baladad (Pines City Doctors Hospital, Baguio City), Remedios Banta (Saint Louis Hospital of the Sacred Heart, Baguio City), Dr. George Pangwi (Pines City Doctors Hospital, Baguio City), Col. Ronaldo C. Cruz, MC (GSC) (Fort del Pilar Station Hospital, Philippine Military Academy, Baguio City), Engr. Worley Imbat (Baguio General Hospital), Ester Borja (Philippine Heart Center), Susan Enriquez (General Santos Doctors Hospital, General Santos City), Zenaida Talagtag (Philippine Children’s Medical Center), Sr. Ma. Jessica Formacion (St. Paul Hospital,Tuguegarao City) Engr. Aida Calma (San Lazaro Hospital), Richael Batang (St. Paul Hospital, Tuguegarao City), Engr. Cesar Yangat (Lung Center of the Philippines), Sr. Trecella May C. Macalam (School of Health Sciences, St. Paul University, Tuguegarao City), Sr. Evelyn Aguilar and Henriel Mojado (St. Paul Hospital Cavite), Dr. Susana A. Salvacion (Philippine Nurses Association), Camilla C. Sarmiento (Northern Samar Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Office), Elena L. Bologa and Lilia Almasco (Northern Samar Provincial Hospital, Catarman, Norther Samar), Dr. Michelle Sunico (UP College of Dentistry, Manila).

Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) is a global coalition of more than 400 organizations in more than 50 countries working to protect health by reducing pollution in health care sector. For more information, visit www.noharm.org. (30)