Physician Oath, Removal, and Records
- Section 1 requires each Board member to take and subscribe an oath to faithfully perform duties, account for moneys, bear true allegiance to the Government of the United States, and take the oath without mental reservation.
- The oath must be recorded and filed in the central office of the Bureau of Health of the Philippine Islands.
- The Director of Health, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, may remove a Board member for continued neglect of duty, incompetency, or unprofessional or dishonorable conduct, after giving the member an opportunity to defend himself.
- Section 2 provides that the Board pertains to the Bureau of Health for executive action required in connection with its work.
- Section 3 requires the secretary-treasurer to keep:
- a record of the Board’s proceedings; and
- a register of all persons granted certificates of registration, showing detailed biographical and credential information, including name, age, sex, place of birth, place of business, post-office address, medical school and study dates, time spent studying elsewhere, countries of institutions granting degrees or clinic/lecture attendance certificates, and all other degrees from institutions of learning.
Board Organization, Meetings, and Fees
- Section 2 requires the Board to organize immediately after appointments and annually thereafter on the anniversary of its first organization, electing a president and a secretary-treasurer from among its members.
- The Board must have a seal to attest its official acts.
- Section 2 sets physician-exam compensation:
- members (except the secretary-treasurer) receive five pesos for each candidate examined for registration as physician; and
- the secretary-treasurer receives four hundred pesos per annum, paid half on the thirtieth of June and half on the twenty-ninth of December.
- Compensation due to members is paid from Insular funds.
- Section 2 allows a person rendering government service for compensation to be appointed as a Board member.
- Section 4 directs Board meetings in the city of Manila on the second Tuesdays of January, April, July, and October each year, upon thirty days’ written or printed notice to each candidate who has filed his name and address with the secretary-treasurer.
- Section 5 requires the secretary-treasurer to collect an examination fee of fifty pesos from each candidate for each examination for registration.
Physician Registration Certificates and Exceptions
- Section 5 provides that the Board issues certificates of registration for physicians to candidates who pass the examination successfully.
- Certificates may also be issued to doctors and licentiates of medicine who were not yet lawfully registered and who practiced in the Philippine Islands before the promulgation of Act Numbered Three hundred and ten, but who interrupted practice and then present diplomas issued by a duly recognized medical school and (for “Foreign specialists or conege”) meet the conditions stated in the section.
- Section 5 repeals, effective December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and nineteen, Section 1 of Act Numbered Sixteen hundred and thirty-two and Act Numbered Sixteen hundred and fifty-one, each of which authorized certain medical graduates to practice without taking the Act Numbered Three hundred and ten examinations.
- Section 5 allows employment of a foreigner as a technical officer or professor in determined specialties necessary and indispensable in the Philippine Islands, and this is not prohibited by the section.
- Physician certificate validity and signing:
- certificates are signed by a majority of the Board’s members.
Prohibition on Practice Without Registration
- Section 6 prohibits any person from practicing medicine in any of its branches in the Philippine Islands without first obtaining the proper certificate of registration issued under Sections 4 and 5.
- The certificate must be registered in the office of the register of deeds of the city of Manila or of the province where the person desires to practice, upon payment of ten pesos paid into the proper provincial treasury.
- Registration is required only once.
- Section 6 does not apply to:
- foreign physicians present in practice in the Philippine Islands; and
- persons who acquired the right to practice under Section 3 of Act Numbered Three hundred and ten.
- Section 6 preserves the continued practice of cirujanos ministrantes who graduate prior to January first, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and it provides that after that date no further cirujanos ministrantes shall be authorized.
Nursing Registration Requirements and Limitations
- Section 7 requires persons desiring to practice as a registered nurse to apply to the Director of Health for a certificate of registration as registered nurse.
- Applicants must be at least twenty years of age and must submit evidence of good physical health and good moral character.
- Applicants must be graduates of a recognized school of nursing with entrance requirements equal to graduates from the public school intermediate grades, and must provide a two years and a half course of instruction in a hospital with at least thirty beds, including a free dispensary and active working departments in:
- surgery,
- obstetrics,
- medicine,
- housekeeping,
- dietetics,
- pediatrics,
- and diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat.
- Applicants must have had dormitory residence during the period of undergraduate instruction.
- Section 7 permits “unregistered nurses” to practice as second-class nurses if they are graduates from intermediate grades of the public schools or equivalent grades from any other school, upon filing an application with the district health officer of the district where they reside.
- The district health officer may refuse or withdraw the right to practice as an unregistered/second-class nurse for lack of good moral character or for abuse of privilege, subject to approval by the Director of Health.
- Section 7 prohibits any second-class or unregistered nurse (or any person other than a registered first-class nurse) from wearing the nurse’s uniform.
Unlawful Nurse Practice and Annual Reporting
- Section 8 makes it unlawful, on and after January first, nineteen hundred and fifteen, for any person to practice as a nurse in any of its branches in the Philippine Islands until the proper certificate of registration has been obtained.
- Section 9 requires the Examining Board to make, on or before thirty-first of December each year, a report to the Director of Health of:
- its proceedings during the year; and
- all moneys received and disbursed during the year.
Physician Examination Subjects
- Section 10 provides that the examinations for physicians include the subjects:
- anatomy,
- physiology,
- chemistry,
- materia medica and therapeutics,
- pathology and bacteriology,
- hygiene,
- surgery,
- practice of medicine,
- obstetrics,
- tropical medicine,
- diseases of women and children,
- diseases of the nervous system,
- diseases of the eye, throat, and ear, and
- medical jurisprudence.
Refusal and Revocation of Physician Certificates
- Section 11 authorizes the Board to refuse to issue certificates to an individual convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction of any offense involving immoral or dishonorable conduct.
- If the Board refuses issuance on this basis, it must state the reason in writing to the applicant.
- Section 11 authorizes the Board to revoke a certificate temporarily or permanently for:
- like cause (immoral or dishonorable conduct), or
- unprofessional conduct.
- Revocation requires due notice, and a hearing with an appeal to a board composed of five reputable physicians appointed as follows:
- one by the Director of Health,
- one by the College of Medicine and Surgery of the University of the Philippines,
- one by the faculty of medicine of the University of Santo Tomas of Manila,
- one by the Philippine Islands Medical Association, and
- one by the Medico-Pharmaceutical College of the Philippine Islands or other associations of the Philippine Islands taking their place.
- The appellate board’s decision is final.
- Revocation may be cancelled after five years if the professional conduct of the person concerned has been exemplary and honorable; in that case, upon motion of the Director of Health or of a majority of the Board’s members, a proper certificate of qualifications is issued anew.
Definition of “Practicing Medicine”
- Section 12 provides that, unless exempt from registration, no person may practice medicine in any of its branches in the Philippine Islands without a proper certificate of registration from the Board of Medical Examiners.
- Section 12 deems a person to be practicing medicine, for compensation or reward (directly or indirectly), if the person treats, operates upon, prescribes, or advises for any human hurt, ailment, or disease (real or supposed), regardless of the nature of the remedy or treatment applied or recommended.
- Section 12 also deems a person to be practicing medicine if the person represents himself as a physician or surgeon or specialist by signs, cards, advertisements, or otherwise.
- Section 12 allows the legitimate practice of:
- dentistry,
- treatment by massage,
- opticians who confine their business to fitting and selling glasses for visual defects only,
- and the rendering of religious consolation or assistance.
- Section 12 permits physician services in:
- cases of emergency;
- by medical officers of the United States Army, United States Navy, or the United States Public Health Service; and
- by physicians and surgeons from other countries called in consultation; and
- by medical students practicing medicine under the direct supervision of a duly registered medical man.
- Section 12 authorizes the Director of Health to issue special authorizations for up to three months in cases of epidemics, in municipalities where there is no legally qualified practicing physician, or when circumstances require it for public health; special authorizations may be issued to:
- medical students who have completed the first three years of their studies, or
- persons who have qualified in medicine,
- and to graduate or registered nurses, upon request.
Criminal Penalties for Violations
- Section 13 imposes criminal penalties for violations: upon conviction, punishment is a fine of not more than three hundred pesos, or imprisonment of not more than ninety days, or both, at the court’s discretion.
Restrictions on Medical Advertising and Titles
- Section 14 prohibits any person from advertising as a doctor, physician, or surgeon, or as a specialist in branches of medicine and surgery, or from prefixing/appending the letters “Dr.” “M.D.” “M.B.” unless the person has been duly conferred the right by diploma or degree from a college, school, or board of examiners legally empowered to confer the same.
- Section 14 prohibits any person from assuming any medical title or prefix or appending letters with intent to falsely represent that he has received a medical degree.
Repeal, Effectivity, and Coverage Mechanics
- Section 15 repeals all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act.
- Section 16 provides that the Act takes effect on its passage.
- The Act’s enactment date is February 5, 1915.