QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 9792)
RA 9792 changes the name of the Davao Medical Center in Davao City to the Southern Philippines Medical Center.
It increases the bed capacity from six hundred (600) to one thousand two hundred (1,200) beds.
It upgrades the existing service facilities and professional health care services to be commensurate with (i.e., appropriate to) the increased bed capacity under Section 2.
Section 4 directs the Department of Health (in coordination with the Department of Budget and Management and the Southern Philippines Medical Center) to determine the additional plantilla positions to be created.
The bed capacity increase must be implemented within not more than four (4) years from the approval of the Act.
Section 6 states that the Secretary of Health shall immediately include the implementation in the Department’s program, and the funding shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
Name change (Sec. 1), bed capacity expansion (Sec. 2), upgrading services (Sec. 3), creation/determination of plantilla positions (Sec. 4), implementation timeline (Sec. 5), and funding/implementation inclusion in the DOH program and General Appropriations Act (Sec. 6).
The upgrades are to conform with and be commensurate to the bed capacity increase; i.e., the facilities and services must match the expanded capacity.
Section 6 provides that the funding for implementation shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
The Act limits implementation to a maximum of four years from approval; exceeding the cap would be beyond what the statute authorizes for implementation timing (potentially requiring justification or legislative amendment).
It takes effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.
Because they determine additional plantilla positions, which involves both health service requirements (DOH and the hospital) and staffing/budget constraints (DBM).
It authorizes upgrading service facilities and professional health care services, and it allows the increase in medical personnel through additional plantilla positions determined by the concerned agencies.
Not more than four (4) years from approval.
The Secretary of Health is responsible for immediately including the implementation of the Act in the DOH program.
It originated in the House of Representatives; finally passed by the House on March 5, 2009 and by the Senate on September 8, 2009; approved on November 19, 2009.