[ Act No. 3111, March 19, 1923 ]
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT, SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY, SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-TWO, SEVEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THREE, AND TWENTY-SIX HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT OF ACT NUMBERED TWENTY-SEVEN HUNDRED AND ELEVEN, KNOWN AS THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE, INCREASING THE NUMBER OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS, CONFERRING UPON THE SAME CERTAIN ADDITIONAL POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Legislature assembled and by the authority of the same:
Section 1. Section seven hundred and fifty-nine of the Administrative Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 759. Board of Medical Examiners.-The Board of Medical Examiners shall consist of five members to be appointed by the Secretary of the Department, who shall have the following qualifications: (1) Be a citizen of the Philippine Islands or of the United States of America; (2) hold the degree of M.D., L.M., or M.B., or another equivalent degree conferred by a medical school or college, legally chartered and of good standing; (3) be legally qualified to practice medicine in the Philippine Islands; (4) have been in practice for at least three years, and (5) have no pecuniary interest in any school, college or university where any branch of medicine is taught: Provided, however, That of the five members to be appointed, not more than two shall be graduates of the same institution."
Section 2. Section seven hundred and sixty is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 760. Functions and duties of the Board.-The Board shall study the conditions affecting the practice of medicine in all parts of the Philippine Islands and shall exercise the powers conferred upon it by this chapter, with a view to the maintenance of ethical and professional standards among members of the medical profession and midwives in the Philippine Islands. A majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum. The Board is authorized to establish and maintain an office in the City of Manila for the transaction of business.
"The Board of Medical Examiners is vested with authority, conformably with the provisions of this chapter, to issue, suspend and revoke certificates of registration for medical practitioners and midwives, to administer oaths and to subpoena, and to subpoena duces tecum witnesses, for all purposes required in the discharge of its duties and adopt a seal to be affixed to all of its official documents."
Section 3. Section seven hundred and sixty-one of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 761. Term of members of the Board.-The members of the present Board of Medical Examiners shall continue to hold office during the time for which they were appointed. Two other members shall be appointed, one for three years and one for four years, and thereafter all appointments shall be for five years, or until their successors qualify. Interim appointments to fill vacancies occurring through death, resignation or otherwise, shall be for the unexpired term only. Each member of the Board shall qualify by taking the proper oath of office prior to entering upon the performance of his duties."
Section 4. Section seven hundred and sixty-two of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 762. Removal of a member of the Board.-The Department Head may remove any member of the Board for neglect of duty, incompetency, unprofessional or dishonorable conduct, after having given the member concerned an opportunity to defend himself in the proper administrative investigation."
Section 5. Section seven hundred and sixty-five of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 765. Compensation of members.-The members of the Board shall receive from the Insular funds as compensation, the sum of five pesos for each candidate examined for registration as physician and two pesos for each candidate examined in midwifery. If any government physician shall be appointed a member of the Board, he may receive the compensation herein provided, in addition to his salary."
Section 6. Section seven hundred and sixty-seven of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 767. Rules and regulations.-The Board shall, with the approval of the Department Head, adopt such rules and regulations as it may deem necessary for the performance of its duties, in harmony with the provisions of this Act, as regards the practice of medicine and midwifery in the Philippine Islands, and shall also promulgate rules and regulations governing examinations and the standards to be attained in them, which shall not be changed within sixty days of any examination. Such rules shall be printed in pamphlet form for the information of candidates."
Section 7. Section seven hundred and seventy of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 770. Inhibition against practising medicine by uncertified persons.-No person shall practice medicine in the Philippine Islands without having previously obtained the proper certificate of registration issued by the Board of Medical Examiners as herein constituted, or the lawful Board which was its predecessor, except as hereinafter stated in this section and in the next following section of this Act.
"A person shall be considered to practice medicine within the meaning of this section, who shall, for compensation or reward or even without the same, diagnose, treat, operate, prescribe remedies for any human disease, injury, deformity, physical or mental condition or any ailment, real or supposed, regardless of the nature of the remedy or treatment used or recommended, or who shall, by means of signs, cards, advertisements, or in any other way either offer or undertake by any means or method to diagnose, treat, manipulate, adjust, operate, or prescribe for any human disease, pain, injury, deformity, physical or mental condition.
"This section shall not be construed to affect commissioned medical officers serving in the United States Army, Navy, or Public Health Service while so commissioned; or any one serving without professional fees as intern on the resident staff of any legally incorporated hospital; or the furnishing of medicine by authorized Government employees in Government free dispensaries; or any legally registered dentist exclusively engaged in practising dentistry; or the application of massage whenever advised by duly registered physicians or limited to hygienic or aesthetic purposes; or any person who mechanically fits or sells lenses, artificial eyes; limbs or other apparatus or appliances, or is engaged in the mechanical examination of eyes, for the purpose of constructing or adjusting spectacles, eyeglasses, and lenses; or the furnishing of medical assistance gratuitously in case of emergency or in places where the services of a duly qualified physician, midwife, or nurse are not available; or the administration of family remedies; or the practice of chiropody."
Section 8. Section seven hundred and seventy-four of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 774. Time of examination.-The Board shall meet in the City of Manila for the purpose of examining candidates desiring to practice medicine or surgery and midwifery in the Philippine Islands, on the second Tuesday of February, May, August, and November of each year, after giving thirty days' written notice of such meeting to each candidate who has filed his name and address with the Secretary-Treasurer of the Board."
Section 9. Section seven hundred and seventy-five of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 775. Prerequisite qualifications for examination.-Every person desiring a physician's certificate of registration, and applying for examination under the provisions of this chapter shall furnish to the Board satisfactory evidence that he or she is more than twenty-one years of age, of good moral character, and has received a diploma conferring the degree of M.D., L.M., M.B., or other degree of equivalent standard from a reputable medical school of good standing.
"The term reputable medical school as used in this chapter, is hereby declared to mean such medical schools or colleges as are legally chartered and recognized, which were in good standing at the time of graduation of the applicant, and which five years after the approval of this Act and thereafter, maintain proper standards of medical education, as specified below, and which require as a minimum for admission, two years after the approval of this Act and thereafter, the preliminary education specified below.
"Only such medical schools or colleges will be considered reputable and in good standing, within the meaning of this section, which have a faculty of reasonable size to give proper laboratory and clinical instruction to their students in the various branches of the medical curriculum; which have sufficient laboratory equipment and hospital facilities comprising at least a minimum of one hundred teaching ward beds for giving the necessary laboratory and clinical instruction; require for graduation the satisfactory completion of not less than four courses or sessions of not less than eight months each, in four different calendar years, with not less than thirty-five hours of instruction each week plus nine months of hospital internship or clinical work in a hospital; which require attendance upon at least eighty per cent of each course of instruction, and which fulfill their published promises concerning entrance requirement, courses of instruction given, and advantages which may be offered to students in regard to facilities for laboratory and clinical teaching.
"Within the meaning of this section, a reputable medical school or college, and in good standing, shall require for the admission of students, the satisfactory completion of not less than two years, of sixty semester hours, in an approved college of liberal arts and science, after the completion of a standard four-year high-school course, representing fourteen high-school units, or its equivalent, as shown by examination.
"The sixty semester hours of premedical college work, two years after the approval of this Act and thereafter, must include not less than eight semester hours in general inorganic chemistry, four of which must be in laboratory work, four semester hours of organic chemistry two of which must be in laboratory work, six or eight semester hours of physics, a least two of which must be in laboratory work, and eight semester hours of biology or zoology four of which must be in laboratory work.
"Each medical school or college shall keep on permanent file the certificates of preliminary education issued by the college or university previously attended and accepted for the admission of students.
"Two years after the approval of this Act and thereafter, students shall present.at the time of the first matriculation, the medical students entrance certificate, to be issued by the secretary of the Board of Medical Examiners, upon the payment of a registration fee of one peso and the submission of satisfactory credentials acceptable to the Board, as evidence of the fulfillment of the requirements concerning preliminary education."
Section 10. Section seven hundred and seventy-six of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 776. Scope of examination for physicians.-The subjects for the examination of a person applying for a physician's certificate shall be anatomy, histology, physiology, biochemistry, bacteriology, pathology, hygiene, symptomatology and general diagnosis, surgery, obstetrics, tropical medicine, gynecology, pediatrics, diseases of the nervous system, diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat as related to the practice of medicine in general, and legal medicine.
"The examination shall be conducted in writing, in English or Spanish. The Board may, at its discretion, hold practical laboratory or bed-side examination, or both written and practical examinations. The examinations shall be practical and fundamental in character, so that the questions may be understood and answered by the candidates.
"The questions asked in the written examinations shall be submitted to the entire Board and approved by that body before the examination is held, and, in the same way, the rating or grading by individual examiners shall be submitted to, and approved by a majority of the Board.
"Examinations conducted in writing shall be made uniform to all applicants examined at any one time, and the applicants shall be known only by numbers, so that no member of the Board shall be able to identify the papers of any applicant until the same have been graded and passed upon by the majority of the Board.
"Any answer paper bearing a candidate's name, or any other designation which would or could reveal the candidate's identity, must be forwarded to the secretary of the Board for rating, making sure that no evidence as to the identity of the candidate remains on the answer paper.
"All questions and answers, as rated, passed upon, and marked with their respective average, shall be properly preserved for three years.
"The papers shall be graded upon a scale of one hundred per cent, and a general average of not less than seventy per cent, with not less than fifty per cent in any subject shall be required for a certificate of registration.
"Any applicant who presents satisfactory evidence that he or she is at least nineteen years of age, of good moral character and has had a satisfactory preliminary education, as specified in this Act, and who presents proper credentials signed by the dean and bearing the seal of a legally incorporated and reputable medical school or college, under the provisions of this Act, to show that he or she has successfully completed at least two of the required four graded courses or sessions in said school, of not less than thirty-two weeks each, of not less than thirty-five hours each week, in two different calendar years, may be examined by the Board, at its discretion, in anatomy, histology, biochemistry, physiology, and bacteriology; and if such an applicant is found to be proficient in these subjects, he or she shall be exempt from further examinations in these subjects at the time of the final examinations.
"In case of failure in any subject at any preliminary examinations given in accordance with the next preceding paragraph, the candidate shall not then be re-examined in such subject in which he may have failed, until the completion of the required four courses of medical study and nine months of internship provided for in this Act when such candidate shall be admitted to the final examinations.
"In case of failure in not more than two subjects in the final examination, the applicant shall have, after the expiration of six months and within two years, the privilege of a re-examination on such subjects by the Board without the payment of an additional fee: Provided, That if the failure is due to illness or other cause satisfactory to the Board, that body may waive the required six months' study: Provided, further, That in case of failure in a second final examination, or in case of failure in more than two subjects in the first final examination, the applicant may only be re-examined after he or she has spent one year in study approved by the Board in a recognized medical college. He must then enter de novo and qualify under the conditions obtaining at the time of the second examination.
"The results of all examinations, including the average and grades obtained by each applicant, shall be submitted for confirmation to the Department Head and made known to the respective candidates within one month after the date of the examination."
Section 11. Section seven hundred and seventy-eight of the same Act, is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 778. Fees to be collected.-The Secretary-Treasurer of the Board shall collect a fee of fifty pesos from each candidate for the examination for the certificate of registration as a physician. Those applicants who take the preliminary examinations after two years in a medical school shall pay twenty-five pesos prior to such examinations and twenty-five pesos prior to the final examination. No additional fee shall be charged for the certificate of the registration to those who pass the examination successfully.
"The Secretary-Treasurer shall collect a fee of twenty pesos for each certificate issued to a midwife."
Section 12. Section seven hundred and eighty of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 780. Revocation of certificates and procedure.-The Board may also suspend or revoke, any certificate of registration issued by it, or by the lawful Board which was its predecessor, through error or fraud, or for the cause stated in the preceding section, or for unprofessional conduct.
"The words 'unprofessional, immoral, or dishonorable conduct,' as used in this chapter, shall be construed to include the following acts: (1) Procuring, aiding, or abetting a criminal abortion; (2) advertising, either in his own name or in the name of another person, firm, association, or corporation, in any written or printed paper, or document, of medical business in which untruthful or improbable promises are made, or being employed by, or in the service of any person, firm, association or corporation so advertising, or advertising in any obscene manner or in a manner derogatory to good morals; (3) habitual intemperance or addiction to the use of morphine, opium, cocaine, or other drugs having a similar effect; (4) conviction of a crime or misdemeanor involving dishonorable conduct; and (5) wilfully betraying a professional secret.
"Proceedings for revocation of a certificate of registration shall be begun by filing a written charge or charges against the accused. These charges may be preferred by any person or persons, firm or corporation, or the Board of Medical Examiners itself may direct its executive officer to prepare said charges. Said charges shall be filed with the executive officer of the Board of Medical Examiners and a copy thereof, together with written notice of the time and place when they will be heard and determined, shall be served upon the accused or his counsel, at least two weeks before the date actually fixed for said hearing.
"The Board shall give the accused a hearing, at which he shall have the right to appear personally or by counsel to cross-examine witnesses, and to procure witnesses in his defense. The Board shall have authority to subpoena witnesses.
"The Board shall make a written report of its findings, signed by at least three members of the Board, to the Head of the Department and shall furnish the accused a copy of the same. The accused shall have the right to appeal to the Department Head, whose decision shall be final.
"If the Board shall find that the charges are sustained, the Board may, at its discretion, by a majority vote of all the members of the Board, suspend or revoke the certificate of registration, and shall thereupon transmit to the registrar of deeds in the province or city in which said accused person is registered as physician, a certificate under its seal, certifying to the action taken by the Board and giving notice that registration has been annulled.ℒαwρhi৷ Said registrar of deeds shall upon the receipt of said certificate, file the same and forthwith mark said registration annulled.
"Any person who shall practice medicine after his certificate of registration has been suspended or revoked by the Board and after his registration has been annulled in the office of the registrar of deeds in the city or province in which it was registered, shall be deemed to have practiced medicine without registration. Where the certificate of registration has been revoked as herein provided, the Board may, after the expiration of one year, entertain an application for a new certificate of registration, in the same manner that new ones are issued, and in doing so may in their discretion, exempt the applicant from the necessity of undergoing any examination."
Section 13. Section seven hundred and eighty-two of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 782. Registration of certificate in office of Register of Deeds.-Every certified physician desiring to practice medicine in any of its branches in the Philippine Islands, shall cause his certificate to be registered in the office of the Registrar of Deeds of the province or city where he desires to practice. For the first registration, the Registrar of Deeds shall collect a fee of ten pesos which shall be paid into the proper provincial treasury. Subsequent registration in other provinces or cities, shall require no further fees."
Section 14. Section seven hundred and eighty-three of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 783. False representation as doctor prohibited.-No person shall in any way advertise as a physician or surgeon or a doctor able to cure, treat, adjust, or alleviate any human ailment as a specialist in any of the branches of medicine and surgery or prefix or append the letters M.D., M.B., or L.M., or any other words or letters or designation, with intention to convey the belief that he or she is engaged in the practice of the medical profession or any branch or specialty of the same, who does not possess the certificate of registration issued by the Board of Medical Examiners, or who has not had duly conferred upon him or her by diploma or degree, from some college or school of medicine legally empowered to confer the same, the right to assume said title; nor shall any person assume any title or prefix or append any letters to his name with the intent to represent falsely that he has received a degree in any branch of medicine or surgery."
Section 15. Section twenty-six hundred and seventy-eight of the same Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 2678. Violation of Medical Law.-Any person violating the provisions of this Act by practicing medicine within the meaning of the same, or holding himself or herself forth as able to do so, without fulfilling the requirements of this Act and receiving the certificate of registration from the Board of Medical Examiners, as provided by this Act, shall, upon conviction in a court of competent jurisdiction, be subject to a fine of not less than two hundred pesos nor more than five hundred pesos, or to imprisonment for not more than ninety days, or both, in the discretion of the court. In case of a second offense, such person shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not less than five hundred pesos nor more than one thousand pesos, or to imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than one year, in the discretion of the court."
Section 16. This Act shall take effect on its approval.
Approved, March 19, 1923.
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