[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6375, August 16, 1971 ]
AN ACT CREATING TONDO GENERAL HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL CENTER, DEFINING ITS PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
Section 1. Title.—This Act shall be known as the Charter of the Tondo General Hospital and Medical Center.
Section 2. Declaration of purpose and objectives.—There is hereby created the Tondo General Hospital and Medical Center to be established and operated in and for the District of Tondo, City of Manila, the same to be organized as a corporation under the aforementioned name.
It shall be a non-profit public institution and its purpose being primarily to give free in-patient and out-patient medical care to as many residents of the District of Tondo, City of Manila, as possible. Its objectives shall Be:
a. To provide residents of the District of Tondo medical care at no cost to them where warranted;
b. To give these residents easy access to hospital facilities and hospital care, especially the poor and indigents among them;
To provide them with better facilities for domicilliary health and medical services.
Section 3. The Hospital Board.—To carry out the purpose and objectives enumerated in Section two of this Act, there is hereby created the governing board of the Tondo General Hospital and Medical Center which shall hereafter be known as the Hospital Board- It shall be composed of five members with the Budget Commissioner or his duly authorized representative and the President of the Tondo Medical Society as ex-officio chairman and vice chairman, respectively, and three members coming from the private sector. Two of these three members shall be physicians, one of whom shall at least be a medical specialist while the other a government recognized hospital administrator. The other member shall be a person of known probity in the community and is active in civic and community work.
The members of the Hospital Board shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines and shall receive no salary. They shall, however, receive a per diem of not exceeding one hundred pesos for every meeting of the Board actually attended: Provided, however, That the total amount of per diem for all the meetings of the Board in a single month shall not exceed five hundred pesos at a rate of not more than one hundred pesos per diem for every member of the Board. Members of the Hospital Board who are not officers of the Government shall serve for a term of four years renewable for another term only.
The Board Secretary shall be appointed by the Chairman from the ranking members of the hospital staff.
Section 4. Powers and ditties of the Hospital Board.— Subject to existing laws, the Hospital Board, as the governing and policy-making body of the hospital, shall have such powers as are necessary to carry out the purpose and objectives enumerated in this Act, including the exercise of corporate powers. It shall perform the following functions and duties:
a. To promulgate and prescribe the rules and regulations for the administration of the affairs of the hospital.
b. To study, propose and approve plans for the improvement of the services of the hospital.
c. To propose, study and approve or, amend or revise the organizational structure of the hospital, both medical and administrative, in order to meet the exigencies o the service, subject to existing laws and regulations of the matter and consonant with the principles of sound hospital administration.
d. To consider and approve appointments and promotions of all staff personnel, medical and administrative, and other employees upon the recommendation of the Hospital Director.
e. To investigate all cases of anomalies, negligence or misconduct of all hospital personnel including the Hospital Director. It shall have the final authority to pass upon the removal, separation, and suspension of such personnel subject to the Civil Service Rules and Regulations.
f. To make an internal audit once a year of the business operation of the hospital.
g. To receive in trust, legacies, gifts, land grants and donations of real and personal property of all kinds, tax free, and to administer the same for the benefit of the hospital or a department or service thereof. Foreign and domestic donors of legacies, gifts, grants and donations under this section shall be exempt from any tax of whatever kind and nature to the extent of the full amount donated, provisions of existing laws to the contrary notwithstanding.
h. To consider and approve the budget prepared by the hospital administration for submission to the Congress of the Philippines through the Budget Commissioner.
Section 5. Meeting of the board; quorum.—The Hospital Board shall meet regularly once a month at the Tondo General Hospital and Medical Center on a regular date fixed for the purpose. Special meetings may be called often as necessary, subject to paragraph two of Section three hereof. A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum. All decisions of the Board must be by majority of the members present.
Section 6. Board Chairman, vice-chairman and board secretary.—The Chairman shall call and preside over all meetings of the Board. He shall sign all papers for the Board and shall certify to all its transactions.
The Vice-Chairman shall act as Chairman and perform all duties and exercise all powers attached thereto when the Chairman is sick or otherwise incapacitated.
The Board Secretary shall keep the records of the proceedings and transactions of the Hospital Board and shall attest to the same.
Section 7. The Hospital Director; Auditor.—There shall be a Hospital Director, elected by a majority vote of the Hospital Board: Provided, That the recommendee is qualified under the Civil Service Laws and Rules.
The Hospital Director shall serve until otherwise incapacitated or removed for cause and shall receive an annual salary equivalent to that of Chief of Hospital IV under the Salary Plan of the Wage and Position Classification Office. He shall have charge of the hospital and shall have the powers in respect to the hospital as are vested by law in chiefs of hospitals.
Specifically, the Hospital Director shall:
a. Be responsible for the implementation of all policies, decisions and orders of the Hospital Board;
b. Have immediate supervision and control over the affairs of the hospital as well as its management and administration, subject to the authority of the Hospital Board;
c. Subject to the approval of the Hospital Board, prepare plans for a hospital residency program in the fields of medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, eye-ear-nose and throat, laboratory, radiology, and training program in nursing and allied fields;
d. Prepare and submit to the Hospital Board periodic reports on the state of affairs, financial conditions, budgetary requirements and other problems of the hospital together with the corresponding recommendations thereon ; and
e. Perform such other duties as the Hospital Board may from time to time direct him to do, consonant with the dignity and responsibility of the office.
The Hospital Board shall appoint an auditor who shall be the representative of the Auditor General who is hereby designated as ex-officio auditor of the Tondo General Hospital and Medical Center.
The auditor shall be the chief of its auditing and accounting department. He shall audit, examine and settle all accounts of the Tondo General Hospital and Medical Center according to existing laws and regulations and shall perform such other duties as the Auditor General, Hospital Director or the Hospital Board may require him. His compensation shall be fixed by the Hospital Board.
Section 8. Hospital organization; bed capacity.—The organization of the hospital shall include such departments and services as the Hospital Board may deem essential to carry on with the objectives of this Act but shall in no case be contrary to the basic organizational plans prescribed by the Bureau of Medical Services of the Department of Health nor with the principles of sound hospital administration.
The hospital shall have a bed capacity of not less than one hundred, ninety per centum of which shall be devoted exclusively to charity patients. It shall likewise maintain facilities and wards for emergency cases as well as those for out-patients and domiciliary services.
Section 9. Heads of departments and services; compensations.—The heads of departments and services as well as medical consultants and specialists shall be appointed by the Hospital Board upon recommendation of the Hospital Director. Their compensations shall be prescribed by the Hospital Board but the same shall in no case be less than provided for under existing laws and regulations.
All other personnel and employees of the hospital shall be appointed by the Hospital Director subject to the approval of the Hospital Board.
Section 10. Hospital trust funds.—All funds and money not coming from the general fund of the National Government such as contributions from taxes and assessments from authorized sweepstakes lotteries and games, donations, legacies, endowment, income of the pay wards and other hospital services shall be used and disbursed only upon the authorization of the Hospital Board for the purpose of improving the hospital, its facilities and services, including the purchase of medicines, supplies and equipment.
Section 11. Supervision by the Department of Health.—The Tondo General Hospital and Medical Center shall be under the supervision of the Department of Health.1âшphi1
Section 12. Transfer of the site and building of the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Hospital, Tondo Annex.— Upon the organization of the Hospital Board, the ownership and possession of the lot and building, other physical plants, equipment, tools, implements, records, balance of funds and appropriations, and personnel, if any, of the Tondo Annex of the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Hospital shall be transferred and conveyed to the said Hospital Board in the name of Tondo General Hospital and Medical Center free from all encumbrances.
Section 13. Appropriation.—The sum of five hundred thousand pesos is hereby appropriated, out of any funds of the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to carry out the purpose of this Act.
There shall also be included in the annual General Appropriations Act such sums of money as may be required to operate and maintain the Tondo General Hospital and Medical Center, based upon the recommendation of the Hospital Board.
Section 14. Sweepstakes Lotteries.—To augment the appropriations for the operation and maintenance of the Tondo General Hospital and Medical Center and to finance its program of improvement of services and expansion, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office is hereby authorized to hold one lottery once every quarter but not exceeding a total of eight lotteries, the net proceeds of which shall be turned over to the said hospital.
Section 15. Repealing Clause.—All laws, ordinances, regulations and orders or parts thereof as may be inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed or superseded.
Section 16. Effectivity.—This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Approved, August 16, 1971.
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