Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA) welcomes the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) issuance of a memo on the “reduction of mercury for health care facilities.”
Memorandum Circular 2010-140 issued on December 7 enjoins all provincial governors, city mayors, municipal mayors, DILG regional directors and others concerned to ensure compliance to the Department of Health (DoH) Administrative Order 21 (AO21) mandating gradual phase-out of mercury-containing devices in all Philippine health care facilities and institutions. AO21 was signed in September 2008 with a two-year implementation period that ended in September 2010.
“We thank Sec. Jesse Robredo for his action. The memorandum may have come belatedly but if this will ensure compliance from local government unit (LGU) controlled health care facilities in phasing out mercury in 2011, HCWH-SEA will definitely support it,” said Faye Ferrer, HCWH-SEA Program Officer for Mercury in Health Care.
HCWH-SEA, however, would like to caution the DILG that a mere reduction on the use of mercury-containing devices like thermometers and sphygmomanometers does not really follow the mandate of AO21. The two-year phase-out period set from 2008 to 2010 gave the hospitals more than enough time to accomplish the more specific objectives of AO21 like the immediate stop in the distribution of mercury thermometers in all admission or discharge kits of the hospital and the conduct of an audit to assess the number of mercurial devices that a specific facilitiy still uses.
“For the phase-out in the LGUs to be effective, a more systematic calendaring system would be needed in order for the DILG controlled facilities to accomplish even just the above mentioned objectives, the first quarter of 2011 should be a good time to start it. We at HCWH would really want the LGUs to be more proactive in the campaign and learn from the lessons learned by hospitals during the two-year implementation,” added Ferrer.
Between January and August this year, HCWH-SEA conducted a survey on the compliance to AO21 in all Philippine hospitals. The result, out of the approximately 1,875 hospitals, only 600 were AO21 compliant. “Several LGU representatives, more particular the Provincial Health Officers (PHO), responded to the survey as well. Based on their responses, the LGU respondents were not aware of AO21, therefore, the DILG memo could facilitate and mobilize all LGUs to work on the phase-out,” said Ferrer.
As of November of this year, HCWH-SEA has documented of at least four provinces and two cities that have signified or made some movements to phase-out mercury in health care facilities. In Cebu, Provincial Board Member Arleigh Sitoy upon seeing the low mercury phase-out compliance in Cebu province said that he will author a resolution and an ordinance to fast track mercury phase-out and address the storage issue in Cebu. Likewise, General Santos City Councilor Marius Oco said that he will author a similar ordinance for the City. The provinces of Cavite and Northern Samar have also expressed support for mercury phase-out in their respective areas. While Quezon City government issued an order on mercury phase-out and Bohol is looking at a similar ordinance.
“We are at the junction where everyone concerned must start doing something. Resolutions and ordinance on mercury phase-out will strengthen the DILG memorandum,” said Ferrer. “But we also need to look into those pharmacies who are still selling mercury-containing devices. We need to put a stop to the sale of mercury devices if we are keen on phasing it out.”
In a random phone call conducted by HCWH-SEA, several big retail drugstores in the country are already phasing-out mercury-containing devices. These include South Star Drug, Rose Pharmacy and St. John Pharmacy. Watsons Personal Care Store on the other hand has completely phased-out mercury thermometers and BP devices in its 187 stores nationwide.
“An ordinance banning the sale of mercury devices in each locality may eventually lead to banning importation of mercury devices in the country,” said Ferrer.
“There is likewise a need to ensure that alternatives to mercury devices are available for the hospitals and other health care units. We enjoin pharmacies to switch to selling the alternatives and we further enjoin the LGUs to regulate these pharmacies.”
With the new DILG memo, another issue that needs to be looked at is the provision of safe storage for phased-out mercury devices. According to AO 21, phased-out devices must be stored in a safe place within the hospital premises.
“That must not stop the LGU to work with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and other concerned agencies to look into a more centralized storage area for the phased-out devices.
“We also encourage LGUs to work with hospitals that have already moved for mercury phase-out and have their experiences shared with other health care units,” said Ferrer.
“Thorough and full implementation of DoH AO 21 and DILG Memorandum 140 is important, we need action not just paper pushing. HCWH-SEA believes that this is the way to ensure health care workers and the general public that the government is determined to rid itself from the dangers and harm of mercury.”
HCWH is an international coalition with over 483 member organizations in 53 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
