- Tuguegarao City, Cagayan
The move to mercury-free St. Paul Hospital Tuguegarao started when they attended the seminar conducted by Health Care Without Harm. After the seminar, Sr. Jessica Formacion, then the Housekeeping Supervisor, gave a feedback on what transpired in the seminar. The hospital knew they were ready to go mercury-free.
Two main hindrances to the shift to alternatives are affordability and issue of disposal of the mercury devices. Although the hospital was able to purchase non-mercurial devices, the issues of durability and price remain unresolved, along with disposal problem.
However, they believe that if the hospital is to focus their efforts to patient safety and occupational safety, changing to non-mercurial devices would not be difficult.
Other environmental health initiatives of the hospital are waste segregation, recycling and composting, and use of safer chemicals. With these initiatives, St. Paul Hospital Tuguegarao envisions to be the leader in the region in terms of eco-friendly and mercury-free hospital.