Manila — In time for the celebration of World Health Day 2013, the Philippine Heart Center and the St. Paul de Chartes Health Care Ministry with its 13 owned, co-owned and administered hospitals have signed-in to be part of the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals (GGHH) network.
GGHH is a network of hospitals, health systems, and health organizations representing over 3,500 hospitals spanning six continents, committed to reducing health care’s ecological footprint.
“This is a very welcome move from two of our longest allies in environmental health in the Philippines,” said Merci Ferrer, HCWH-Asia Director. “These hospitals have worked in greening the health system way before the GGHH Network. To say that they have been far ahead in the move is not an exaggeration.”
High on mercury
This year’s World Health Day theme is high blood pressure.
One of the goals of the GGHH Network is the substitution of hazardous chemicals used in the health care setting. Among the chemicals in focus is mercury which is found in several health care devices including blood pressure devices.
A known neurotoxin1, mercury impacts cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language and fine motor and visual spatial skills in children exposed to low levels of mercury in the womb. Other symptoms of methyl mercury poisoning includes impairment of the peripheral vision, disturbances in sensations, lack of coordination of movements, impairments of speech, hearing, walking and muscle weakness. The effects are not limited to children.
For years, the health and environmental hazards of mercury spillage were completely ignored in favor of health of the patient.
Moving away from mercury danger
“Now that the dangers of mercury are well-known and substitution of mercury devices are happening around the globe2, health systems need not worry of future mercury pollution from health care,” said Ferrer. “And instead focus the work on patient health and other environmental health issues.”
All 14 hospitals have long phased-out the use of mercury blood pressure devices and have served as models for other hospital in the region on the viability of the alternatives.
“When we started campaigning on mercury phase-out in health care in 2006, PHC and SPC Health Care Ministry3 were among the first to take on the move. Seven years into the campaign and with a Department of Health (DoH) Administrative Order 21 to back it up, Philippines is the first Southeast Asian country to have completely phased-out mercury-containing blood pressure devices in health care,” said Ferrer.
Healing thru sharing
To further intensify the campaign against use of mercury in health care, HCWH-Asia has brought the campaign to Indonesia with ten pilot hospitals in Denpasar City. The project is in partnership with Swedish Chemicals Agency, KemI, and local non-government organization, BaliFokus. HCWH-Asia through the GGHH campaign is also working with Thailand and Vietnam health ministries on the mercury phase-out.
The campaign has likewise expanded to include substitution of other hazardous chemicals used in health care.
Substitution of hazardous chemicals is just one of goals of the Network. The others are: Leadership that prioritizes environmental health; Waste reduction, treatment and safe disposal of health care waste; Energy efficiency and renewable energy generation; Water reduction and supply of potable water; Transportation strategies; Food purchasing and availability of sustainably grown and healthy food; Pharmaceuticals safe management and disposal; Buildings design and construction; and Purchasing safer and more sustainable products and materials.
“HCWH-Asia is proud to say that both PHC and SPC Health Care Ministry are doing more than chemicals substitution and we are grateful that through the GGHH Network4, all the good work and best practices will be shared globally,” said Ferrer.
For more information, contact:
Sonia G. Astudillo, sonia@no-harm.org; +63 9189182369
Merci Ferrer, merci@no-harm.org; +63 9209056113
Footnote:
1 - Mercury, a known neurotoxin, may be released from thermometers, blood pressure devices, gastrointestinal and other mercury-containing products. At room temperature, significant amounts of liquid elemental mercury transform to a gas, exposing workers or patients in the area to potentially highly toxic levels. If discarded as waste, mercury will eventually make its way into the environment.
2 – On January 19, 2013 in Geneva, as part of the final text of a global mercury treaty, the world’s government agreed to end the manufacture, import and export of all mercury-based medical devices—effectively phasing them out by 2020.
3- The 13 hospitals owned, co-owned and administered by St. Paul de Chartres (SPC) Health Care Ministry are Dela Salle University (DLSU) Medical Center (Dasmarinas Cavite), General Santos Doctors Hospital (General Santos City), Julio Cardinal Rosales Memorial Hospital (Dalaguete, Cebu), Notre Dame de Chartres Hospital (Baguio City), Our Lady of Peace Hospital (Paranaque City), Perpetual Succor Hospital (Cebu City), St. Joseph Southern Bukidnon Hospital (Maramag, Bukidnon), St. Paul Hospital in Dasmarinas, Cavite, St. Paul’s Hospital in Iloilo City, St. Paul Hospital in Tuguegarao City, and Maria Reyna Xavier University Hospital (Cagayan de Oro City) and two more other hospitals administered by SPC in Nueva Vizcaya and Antique province.
4 - GGHH Network members from Asia include:
Health Systems Members:
Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health (GREEN and CLEAN Hospitals Program) (Thailand) (746 hospitals and 3,099 sub district hospitals)
Yonsei University Health System (Korea) (5 hospitals)
Health Professional, International and Non-Government Organization Members:
Chinese Hospital Association, Hospital Architecture, System Research Branch (China) (150 Hospitals)
Indonesia Hospital Association (Indonesia) (1,234 hospitals)
Hospital Members:
Beijing Ditan Hospital (China) (*)
Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital (Taiwan)
Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital (Taiwan)
Chia-Yi Hospital (Taiwan)
Dansai Crown Prince Hospital (Thailand)
GP Genesis Dialysis Clinic and Diagnostic Center (Philippines)
Gunjaman Singh Memorial DCC (Nepal)
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (Singapore)
King Fahad Medical City (Saudi Arabia)
National Cheng Kung University Hospital (Taiwan)
Pushpanjali Crosslay Hospital (India)
Regional Health Promotion Center 5 (Thailand)
Regional Health Promotion Center 8 (Thailand)
Taipei City Hospital Zhongxiao Branch (Taiwan)
Vachira Phuket Hospital (Thailand)