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The Department of Health (DOH) reported today that 16 out of the 20 DOH-retained hospitals in Metro Manila have fully complied with the directive on phasing out the use of all apparatuses or devices in the healthcare system that contain mercury.

The phase-out is in keeping with Administrative Order No. 2008-0021 which mandates the gradual phase-out of mercury in all Philippine health care facilities and institutions.

The move to stop the use of all medical devices containing mercury was jumpstarted in 1991, when the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that a safe level for mercury that would not have any adverse effects on a person’s health has never been established.

The following are the list of DOH-hospitals in Metro Manila which are fully-compliant:

1. San Lorenzo Ruiz Women’s Hospital
2. Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital
3. Philippine Orthopedic Center
4. Valenzuela Medical Center
5. National Center for Mental Health
6. East Avenue Medical Center
7. San Lazaro Hospital
8. Research Institute for Tropical Medicine
9. Dr. Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center
10. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital
11. Las Pinas General Hospital and Satellite Trauma Center
12. Rizal Medical Center
13. Quirino Memorial Medical Center
14. Tondo Medical Center
15. Lung Center of the Philippines a
16. Philippine Children’s Medical Center

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health (DOH) may recommend to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) the banning on the importation of mercury-containing products in the country.

In a telephone interview, Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral reiterated that mercury is highly toxic so the use of any product containing the substance should be prohibited.

“I think products like fluorescent lamps have mercury. We will propose to the DENR that these products be banned. We will see,” she said.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can affect the kidney and the nervous, digestive, respiratory and immune systems.

In 2008, the DOH issued Administrative Order (AO) No. 21 imposing the “gradual phaseout of mercury in all Philippine health care facilities and institutions.”

The AO is in line with the stand of the World Health Organization in 1991 that a “safe level of mercury exposure, below which no adverse effect,” has never been established.

Cabral reminded all hospitals, infirmary, lying-in clinics
and other health facilities that they have until December this year to comply with the phaseout.

“The DOH has not been registering thermometer and blood pressure apparatus with mercury (because of that AO). We want to remind health care facilities that they have until this year to switch to alternative devices,” she said.

The two medical devices that contain mercury are thermometers and sphygmomanometers used to take the blood pressure of a person.

The non-governmental organization Health Care Without-Southeast Asia, which has been advocating for the ban, gave assurance that digital alternatives for these devices are easily available and affordable.

By next year, Cabral said there should be no mercury devices in the Philippines so health care facilities should have already started phasing them out.

via - PhilStar

Pr-nov2009 Nle Results

The Professional Regulation Commission announces that application to the July 3 & 4, 2009 Nursing Licensure Examination is now open until April 14, 2010 for Repeaters and May 14, 2010 for First Timers. Applicants are required to submit the following documents:

1. Duly accomplished Nurses’ Application Form (NAF);
2. NSO issued Certificate of Live Birth;
3. NSO issued Certificate of Marriage (for married women);
4. Transcript of Record with scanned picture and remarks: “For Board Examinations Purposes”;
5. Record of OR-DR Cases (for 1st timers only);
6. Summary of Related Learning Experience – (for 1st timers only);
7. Four (4) pieces passport size (1 ½ x 1 ½) colored picture with complete name tag in white background;
8. Community Tax Certificate;
9. Examination Fee of P900.00;
10. One (1) window mailing envelope; and
11. Valid Identification Card.

100 and more examinees

30 to 99 examinees

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced that 37, 527 out of 94, 462 or 39.73% passed the Nursing Board Exam given by the Board of Nursing las November 2009.

Here's the link for the COMPLETE LIST OF NURSING BOARD EXAM passers for November 2009: Complete List of November 2009 Nursing Board Exam Results

Subcribe via EMAIL

The Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the decision of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to revoke the license of Virginia Madeja, one of the examiners in the leakage-tainted June 2006 nursing board exams.

In a 17-page decision promulgated on January 21, the CA denied the petition for review of Madeja, whose nursing license was revoked by the PRC after she and fellow Board of Nursing (BoN) member, Anesia Dionisio, were found guilty of neglect of duty that gave rise to the leakage of test questions to some examinees.

The decision was written by Associate Justice Jose Reyes Jr. and concurred in by Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas Jr. and Ricardo Rosario of the CA’s Special Fourteenth Division.

The appellate court held the PRC did the right thing when it ordered the revocation of Madeja’s license considering the “far-reaching and deep” effect of the leakage scandal, which could have not happened had she “exercised all reasonable diligence in the performance of her officially-designated duty.”

The leakage scandal, the CA noted, did not only impose undue burden on the affected examinees who had to take the exams again but also “tainted the integrity and cast doubt on the fitness and competency of the entire Philippine nursing industry, which for years has sought to prove to the world that our country can produce competent, reliable and trustworthy health care professionals.”

Court records show that Madeja and Dionisio were BoN members and examiners in the June 2006 nursing licensure exam. Madeja was assigned in Test III (Medical Surgical Nursing) while Dionisio was assigned in Test V (Psychiatric Nursing).

After the exams, media reports circulated that there was a leakage of test questions and a complaint was filed by several examinees in Baguio City against certain BoN members for alleged involvement in the leakage. Thereafter, PRC chairperson Leonor Rosero created a fact-finding committee to investigate the alleged leakage.

During the investigation, the PRC discovered that the leakage came in the form of handwritten and computer-printed notes which were distributed a day before the exams to certain examinees in Baguio City who reviewed at Gapuz Review Center.

It was also learned that copies of leakage notes were distributed in SM Manila during a purported “enhancement review class” for reviewers of INRESS Review Center two days prior to the exams.

The PRC observed that 56 situations in the leakage notes from Madeja’s test questions manuscript landed in the hands of examinees before the exams.

Source - http://wap.smart.com.ph/nph-proxy.cgi/000000A/http/www.mb.com.ph/articles/240935/ca-upholds-prc-decision-nursing-exam-scandal

Commission Resolution Number 2009-537 dated November 13, 2009, the nursing board exam has been moved from June and November to July and December.

Here are the new nursing board exam schedules for 2010:

July 3 and 4, 2010 (Exam Dates)
Deadline of Application:
*April 14, 2010 (Repeaters)
*May 14, 2010 (First Timers)

December 12 and 13, 2010 (Exam Dates)
Deadline of Application:
*September 8, 2010 (Repeaters)
November 8, 2010 (First Timers)

Goodluck to all Batch 2010 NURSING Board Exam Takers.

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The Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) Baguio is open from 7am to 6pm, Mondays to Fridays. No lunchbreak.