Emergency Medical and Dental Care for Employees

For establishments with not than thirty nor more than two hundred employees and laborers, Section 1 requires keeping a stock of emergency medicines under the charge of a nurse for employee and laborer use.
Section 1 provides an exemption from keeping emergency medicines in such establishments when, within a radius of one kilometer from the establishment, there exists a public dispensary furnishing medicine free of charge to poor applicants or a pharmacy where the employer can buy the same for the purposes of the Act.
The decision to relieve the employer from keeping medicine stock in the one-kilometer circumstance is made in the discretion of the Secretary of Labor or his authorized representatives.
Section 1 limits the exemption by providing that it does not apply when the number of employees and laborers exceeds one hundred but is not greater than two hundred.

When the number of employees and laborers exceeds two hundred but is not greater than three hundred, Section 1 requires, in addition to keeping emergency medicine stock under a nurse, the employment of a permanent or retained physician and a permanent or retained dentist, plus a room of strong materials, properly ventilated, and adequate for emergency cases.
When the number of employees exceeds three hundred, Section 1 requires, in addition to stock of medicines and full services of a physician and a dentist, the maintenance of a:
- dental clinic, and
- infirmary or emergency hospital with capacity of one bed for each hundred employees.
Section 1 allows an exception to maintain the infirmary/emergency hospital if a dental clinic and a hospital exist in the place at a distance not greater than two kilometers from the establishment.
Section 1 permits the employer, in the two-kilometer exception, to enter into an agreement with the existing dental clinic and hospital to reserve the necessary number of beds for the Act’s purposes, and provides that the number of beds may be increased to three for each two hundred laborers and employees at the discretion of the Secretary of Labor.

Section 2 requires the physicians and dentists of the commercial, industrial, and agricultural establishments (or branches) to subject all employees to a medical examination at least once a year.
Section 2 requires dental examination similarly, at least once a year, by the establishments’ dentists.
Section 2 extends coverage to members of said unions or branches thereof for medical and dental examination.
Section 2 requires the physicians and dentists to make detailed monthly and annual reports of all services rendered.

Section 3 provides that the owner, lessee, or operator shall not be held liable for failing to furnish medical or dental treatment other than emergency nature as prescribed in the Act and in rules and regulations issued under it by the Secretary of Labor or authorized representatives.
Section 3 provides that the owner, lessee, or operator shall not be held liable for failing to furnish adequate emergency treatment in cases of epidemics, catastrophes, fires, or other disasters producing an extraordinarily large number of sick and injured, or creating a situation rendering proper furnishing difficult.
Section 3 bars civil or criminal liability for consequences of the medical or dental treatment provided under the Act.
Section 3 makes acceptance of the medical or dental treatment entirely optional with the laborer or employee, or with the employee’s family or the person authorized to speak for the sick or injured employee.

Section 4 requires that the computation under Section 1 subsections (a), (b), and (c) includes all laborers and employees financially dependent for their work and subsistence upon the owner, lessee, or operator.

Section 5 empowers the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Labor (or authorized representative) to prescribe the kinds and quantities of medicines referenced in Section 1 subsections (a), (b), and (c).
Section 5 empowers the Chief Medical Officer to prescribe the conditions of the dental clinic and infirmary or hospital referenced in Section 1 subsection (c).
Section 5 directs the Chief Medical Officer to ensure enforcement by inspecting covered establishments at intervals of not more than six months.
Section 5 requires the Chief Medical Officer to issue instructions and promulgate, from time to time, rules and regulations necessary and advisable to carry out the Act properly.
Section 5 allows medicines, materials, and equipment required by the Act to be purchased or requisitioned from the Bureau of Supply through the Secretary of Labor, and requires furnishing at the same prices as the Government pays.

Section 6 imposes a fine of not less than twenty five pesos nor more than throe hundred pesos for willful violations of Section 1, upon conviction.
Section 6 authorizes that upon a second or subsequent conviction, the Court may order the definite closing of the establishment in addition to the fine.
Section 6 provides that if the violation is committed by a corporation, trust, partnership, or branch, the president or manager (or, in his default, the person acting as such at the time) shall be held liable.
Section 6 provides that for a government-owned or controlled corporation, the managing head shall be held liable unless the managing head shows the violation was due to the act or omission of another person over whom he has no control, in which case that other person shall be held liable.
Section 6 provides that if the National Government or any provincial or municipal government or political subdivision is the owner, lessee, or operator of the establishment or branch where the violation occurs, the officer having direct charge, control or supervision of that establishment shall be held liable.

Section 7 repeals Act Numbered Three thousand nine hundred sixty-one, Commonwealth Act Numbered Three hundred twenty-four, Republic Act Numbered Forty-six, and Republic Act Numbered Two hundred and thirty-nine.
Section 8 provides that the Act takes effect three months after its approval.
The Act was Approved, June 12, 1954.