Health Care Without Harm and nurses partner to improve system

MANILA, Philippines – In celebration of International Nurses Day, Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) and nurses all over the world are partnering to create a cleaner, healthier and more environment-friendly health care system.

In the Philippines, HCWH-Southeast Asia and the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) signed a memorandum of understanding detailing the work to phase-out mercury in the health care setting.

According to Merci Ferrer, executive director of HCWH-SEA, nurses have always been at the forefront of environmental health campaigns. Nurses are first to demand occupational safety practices in hospitals and also the first to ask that mercury devices be phased-out.

“We are glad that in the Philippines, it is not just individual nurses who are taking the lead for change but nurses as a collective, as an organization,” she added.

As part of the understanding, PNA will join the Mercury Free Health Care Global Partnership led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and HCWH. This partnership aims to substitute mercury-based medical devices with safer, accurate and affordable devices by 2017.

“We have Administrative Order 21 which mandates the phasing-out of all mercury-containing devices in all hospitals by 2010 here in the Philippines. The PNA definitely supports a global phase-out. This is for the welfare of the patients who visit the hospitals and the nurses and other health workers who spend 40 hours a week on duty,” said PNA president Tita Barcelo.

PNA’s support for global mercury phase-out does not stop with the MOU. They also aim for a virtual elimination of mercury-based thermometers and sphygmomanometers over the next decade, substituting these with accurate, economically viable alternatives and enjoining all PNA members, chapters and affiliates in the country to help promote the advocacy to eliminate mercury in health care. 

PNA is also supporting the call for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to provide an intermediate storage area for phased-out mercury devices from hospitals.

HCWH-SEA, on the other hand will organize mercury-free health care information and education programs to be disseminated to PNA regional offices; national and local activities for nurses on the promotion of mercury-free health care devices; and promote through its website and the national media the various activities carried out by the PNA and the partnership.

“In this case, it is not just the Philippine nurses and hospitals who will benefit but nurses, health care workers and practically everyone all over the world.”

PNA has a membership of over 105,000 nurses.

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