Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 9661)
The main purpose of Republic Act No. 1136 is to reorganize the Division of Tuberculosis in the Department of Health to enhance the coordination, direction, and implementation of tuberculosis control services in the Philippines.
The Division of Tuberculosis is organized into several sections: administrative (with statistical, motor and electrical maintenance, library, and buildings and grounds maintenance units), clinics and therapy, prevention and immunization (with BCG immunization and children's clinic, health education and social service units), X-ray operation and maintenance, and TB laboratory operation and research.
The chief and assistant chief of the Division of Tuberculosis are appointed by the Secretary of Health. They receive annual compensations of seven thousand two hundred pesos and six thousand pesos, respectively.
Key functions include coordinating tuberculosis control services nationwide, providing prevention through BCG immunization, diagnosis, treatment and social rehabilitation, conducting health training and research, establishing and maintaining provincial TB centers and mobile units, operating TB wards, and cooperating with other agencies on public health welfare.
The Division must establish and maintain at least thirty fully-equipped and fully-manned provincial TB centers within four years.
The Division must establish at least thirty mobile X-ray units and thirty mobile TB prevention units within four years to service rural and inaccessible areas.
The village rest settlements are designed for patients with initial or convalescing tuberculosis who cannot be accommodated in sanatoria or hospitals, to facilitate their rehabilitation and reintegration into normal society through medical control and gainful occupation training.
The National Advisory Council on Tuberculosis is created to advise the Division of Tuberculosis and is composed of the Secretary of Health as chairman, representatives from the Departments of Labor, Education, Social Welfare Administration, the Philippine Tuberculosis Society, and two civic organizations designated by the President.
These units are to be turned over fully to the Government and transferred to the reorganized Division of Tuberculosis once ready, with provincial or city-government supported clinics also potentially transferred with local agreement.
An initial appropriation of two million five thousand pesos is provided for the fiscal year 1955, with necessary sums for subsequent years to be included in the General Appropriation Act.