Indonesia — BALIFOKUS and Health Care Without Harm have recently partnered to promote mercury-free health care through the phase-out of mercury containing devices in seven hospitals Denpasar City, Indonesia.
“The Government of Indonesia supports the preparation of legally binding instrument of mercury. We have to prepare all stakeholders and related sectors to phase out and eliminate products and processes containing mercury,” said Masnellyarti Hilman, Deputy IV Ministry of Environment for Hazardous Substances, Hazardous Wastes, and Domestic Wastes. “Towards the preparation of the Mercury Convention we will identify which sectors will be able to phase-out mercury immediately and which sector will need to do it in stages. We will need financial and technical assisstance from the global society to achieve these goals.”
In the health care setting, mercury can be found in several devices such as fever thermometers, sphygmomanometers and dental fillings. Mercury evaporates in room temperature and the vapor stayed in the air for six months until one and half year. Continued exposure to mercury vapor can affect the respiratory system, lessen vision ability, disturb nervous and motor systems, affect memory system and sensitivity as well as disturb fetus and children.
Health Care Without Harm Southeast Asia, represented by Faye Ferrer, Program Officer for Mercury Program, said that “We have been working in the Southeast Asia for the last five years and in the last ten years in the US and Europe to promote mercury-free health care sector. The initiative from Bali can be replicated in other cities and shared at the global level. This will show that Indonesia has taken a real step towards the elimination and phase out of mercury containing devices in the health care sector.”
“The MoU signed with seven hospitals in Denpasar City aims to phase-out and eliminate the use of mercury thermometers, sphygmomanometers, improving medical waste management with environmentally sound practices,” said Bayu Susila, Director of BALIFOKUS who facilitates this program. “Denpasar City, in this case the Mayor of Denpasar represented by the Environmental Agency of Denpasar City, supports this program through the development of local regulation and solutions for temporary storage at the hospital level as well as at the city level. There will be series of dialogues and discussions with provincial government and central government for further direction.”
Prof. Peter Orris from University of Illinois, Professor and Associate Director of the Great Lakes Center for Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health of the University of Illinois’ School of Public Health stated at the Bali conference that, “It is important for medical professionals and clinicians to understand the harm of mercury in their working place. Understanding and knowledge about this is important for prevention, especially to prevent the exposure to children and health care workers.”
Yuyun Ismawati, advisor of BALIFOKUS said that, “Knowing the harm and the risk of mercury is so close to us we should not wait for the international convention to regulate and tell us how to eliminate products containing mercury. Safer alternatives and substitutes are available in the market. Some suppliers have already stated their willingness and committment to provide the alternatives. Political will from relevant sectors and committment from the hospital managers and health care pratcitioners are important to be supported and advocated so the health of patients and hospital workers will be better protected.”
To operationalize this initiative several activities will be scheduled periodically with the pilot hospitals, identifying the existing policies and its gaps, working together with the suppliers to provide non-mercury products as well as the provision of proper infrastructures.
The initiative to phase out and eliminate the mercury-containing devices in health care sector is a low hanging fruit program which can be achieved in Indonesia to protect public in general, as well as health care workers and environment.