Envi-health group Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA) welcomes the appointment of Dr. Enrique T. Ona as head of the Department of Health (DoH) and hopes that the new Secretary will do more than his predecessor.

According to Merci Ferrer, hopes were very high when outgoing Secretary Esperanza Cabral was appointed. As former head of the Philippine Society of Hypertension, Cabral expressed full support to the phase-out of mercury-containing devices in health care during the 2006 Southeast Asia Mercury in Health Care Conference held in Manila.She promised the same support when she became Health Secretary.

RP health care translates to mercury-free. In February this year, HCWH-SEA visited Cabral and gained support to six key measures to ensure that the public will be safe from mercury.

These include the immediate banning on importation of mercury-containing devices, non-issuance of permits to distributor of mercury-containing devices, more information dissemination programs on the phase-out of mercury to LGU-controlled health care units, release of 13.2M allocation for 66 DoH-retained hospitals to purchase non-mercurial devices under the 2009 General Appropriations Act (GAA), program to follow-up on the state of the more than 20 student victims of mercury poisoning in St. Andrew’s School in Parañaque in 2006, and programs to replace mercury devices in hospitals.

To date, only the non-issuance of permits to distributor of mercury-containing devices is being implemented. “We are hopeful and very positive that Sec. Ona can continue the legacy that former Sec. Enrique Duque and Sec. Cabral have started in terms of mercury phase-out by calling for the immediate banning on importation of mercury-containing devices and other green initiatives in the health care setting.’’