Amending leprosy treatment provisions

Section 1 amends Sections 1058 and 1059 of the Revised Administrative Code, as amended.
Section 2 repeals Sections 1060 to 1071, inclusive, of the same Code, as amended.
The Act’s operating rules are implemented through certification and decisions by the Secretary of Health or his authorized representatives.

Persons afflicted with leprosy are placed under a general rule of non-segregation and community-based treatment.
Institutional confinement is permitted only when certified as necessary for the specific stage of the disease.
Treatment responsibilities are assigned to government health facilities and duly licensed physicians whenever institutional confinement is not required.

Institutional treatment is triggered only upon certification by the Secretary of Health or his authorized representatives.
The certification relates to whether the stage of the disease requires institutional treatment for Section 1058.
For Section 1059, institutional treatment is triggered whenever the leprosy has developed to a stage requiring institutional treatment, and the leprosy officer so certifies.
Release from institutional treatment occurs when the Secretary of Health or his authorized representative decides institutional treatment is longer necessary.

Section 1058 states that, except when certified by the Secretary of Health or his authorized representatives that the stage requires institutional treatment, persons afflicted with leprosy shall not be confined in a leprosarium.
Section 1058 requires that such a person be treated in any government skin clinic or rural health unit.
Section 1058 also authorizes treatment by a duly licensed Physician.
The treatment obligation under Section 1058 applies as the alternative to leprosarium confinement whenever certification for institutional treatment is not present.

Section 1059 authorizes institutional confinement whenever a person with leprosy develops the disease to a stage that requires institutional treatment.
Section 1059 requires that the leprosy officer certifies that institutional treatment is necessary.
Upon such certification, the person must be forthwith sent to a government operated sanitarium.
The person must be treated there until the Secretary of Health or his authorized representative decides that institutional treatment is longer necessary.

Section 2 repeals Sections 1060 to 1071, inclusive, of the Revised Administrative Code, as amended.
The repeal removes the prior statutory framework covering the repealed sections and leaves the amended Sections 1058 and 1059 as the operative provisions on the covered subject matter.