Question & AnswerQ&A (PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 195)
The main purpose of Act No. 2490 is to create a Board of Dental Hygiene to establish and maintain free dental clinics for children enrolled in public and private primary schools in the Philippine Islands.
The Secretary of the Interior appoints the three qualified practicing dentists who form the Board of Dental Hygiene.
Members must be lawfully qualified practicing dentists and residents of the Philippine Islands.
No, the members serve without any compensation whatsoever.
The Board shall hold meetings, elect officers among themselves, report their work to the Director of Health, manage funds, establish and maintain dental clinics, and perform other necessary duties to carry out the purposes of the Act.
They must submit a report on or before January 1, 1916, to the Director of Health detailing the number of children attended, nature of dental work done, funds received and disbursed, and other relevant information.
The Board is authorized to solicit and accept money for the purposes of supporting dental clinics until December 1, 1915.
All sums must be deposited in the Insular Treasury to the credit of the dental hygiene fund.
The fund can only be spent on furnishing free dental services to poor children in public and private primary schools, including purchasing dental instruments, medicines, supplies, paying compensation for dentists and staff, and expenses related to fundraising and clinic establishment.
Dentists, assistants, and other employees must be natives of the Philippine Islands or of the United States and selected impartially based on aptitude.
Disbursement requires vouchers signed by all three Board members and countersigned by the Director of Health and the Director of Education or their representatives.
No, the Board cannot contract obligations exceeding the actual amount of cash on deposit in the dental hygiene fund.
The Act took effect immediately upon its passage on February 5, 1915.