QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 8423)
RA 8423 is an Act creating the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) and a Traditional and Alternative Health Care Development Fund. Its short title is the “Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA) of 1997.”
The policy is to improve the quality and delivery of health care services through the development and integration of traditional and alternative health care into the national health care delivery system. It also aims to establish a legally workable basis for indigenous societies to own their traditional knowledge, require acknowledgment by permitted users, and demand a share in financial returns from authorized commercial use.
Examples include: (1) encouraging scientific research on traditional and alternative health care with direct public health impact; (2) promoting proven safe, effective, cost-effective preventive and curative modalities consistent with government standards; (3) developing and coordinating skills training for traditional/alternative practitioners and related professionals; (4) formulating ethical standards and policies protecting indigenous and natural health resources/technology; (5) promoting traditional/alternative health care in international and national conventions.
It is the sum total of knowledge, skills, and practices on health care, other than those embodied in biomedicine, used in prevention, diagnosis, and elimination of physical or mental disorder.
It is a medical care discipline advocating therapy with remedies that produce effects differing from those of the diseases treated, also called allopathy, western medicine, regular medicine, conventional medicine, mainstream medicine, orthodox medicine, or cosmopolitan medicine.
Herbal medicines are finished, labeled medicinal products whose active ingredient(s) are aerial or underground plant parts or other specified plant materials. However, medicines containing plant material combined with chemically-defined active substances (including isolated constituents) are not considered “herbal medicines” under the Act.
PITAHC is a body corporate attached to the Department of Health. Its principal office is in Metro Manila, with authority to establish branches/other offices as needed.
Examples: (1) plan and carry out research and development and integration into the national health care delivery system; (2) verify, package, and transfer economically viable technologies; (3) provide a database/policy formulation to stimulate production/marketing/consumption; (4) organize continuing training programs for various health professionals and students; (5) formulate codes of ethics and standards for practice and for manufacturing/quality control/marketing of products.
The Board includes the Secretary of Health as ex officio chairman; permanent representatives of DOH? (No—per Section 7, the permanent representatives are from DOST, DENR, Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, Culture and Sports, and CHED). It also includes six appointed sector/industry representatives: a traditional/alternative health care physician; an academe/research member; a traditional/alternative practitioner not a physician; a biomedical/allopathic/western medical practitioner preferably from the Philippine Medical Association; a natural/organic food industry member; and an environmental sector organization member.
They are appointed by the President upon recommendation of the Secretary of Health. Two members serve 3 years, the second two serve 2 years each, and the third two serve 1 year each. Subsequent appointments to vacancies serve only the unexpired term.
Quorum exists with the presence of at least six (6) members. Resolutions/decisions/actions require the majority vote of members present, there being a quorum.
The Institute is headed by a Director General appointed by the President upon recommendation of the Secretary of Health, with a term of six (6) years. The Director General provides overall supervision and direction, executes contracts within delegated authority, implements Board policies/decisions, and submits annual reports and annual (and supplemental) budgets to the Board.
It is a fund used exclusively for Institute programs and projects. It is funded from the earnings of Duty Free Philippines. Allocations are: P50,000,000 (first year), P75,000,000 (second year), and P100,000,000 (third year). Not more than 15% may be used for administrative costs of the Institute.
The Institute must submit an annual accomplishment report to Congress, including the status of its priority researches and operations. Congress may inquire into PITAHC’s programs under its oversight function.
Within 30 days from the completion of appointments, the Board must convene and, collaborating with the Department of Health Traditional Medicine Unit, formulate rules and regulations. The rules must be issued within 180 days from the Board’s initial meeting and take effect upon publication in a newspaper of general circulation.
The Act takes effect 15 days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.