Requirement of Qualified Surgeon in Secondary Hospitals
- All accredited secondary hospitals must have a full-time qualified surgeon available at all times.
- The surgeon must have completed a 4-year residency training program.
- In areas without available surgeons (verified by PhilHealth Regional Offices and/or the Accreditation Department), a physician with at least 6 months of certified surgical training may be allowed.
- Such substitute physicians may only perform limited surgical procedures as determined by the Philippine College of Surgeons.
- These substitute physicians are not required to be physically present at all times, especially when no surgeries are scheduled.
Requirement of Anesthesiologist in Secondary Hospitals
- A qualified anesthesiologist must be readily available at all times to provide anesthesia services for surgeries.
- The anesthesiologist should have completed any hospital training program related to anesthesia.
- Physical presence at the hospital is not mandatory if there are no patients scheduled for surgery.
Contingency Plans for Physician Absence
- Secondary (primary care) hospitals must have a documented plan of action to address scenarios when the surgeon or anesthesiologist are not physically present but a surgical procedure is required.
- Failure to have such a plan will be considered a deficiency.
- This deficiency may lead to the hospital’s accredited category being downgraded from secondary to primary.
Effectivity and Implementation
- The provisions take effect 15 days after publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation.
- This circular was adopted on November 29, 2005, under the authority of the Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the President and CEO of PhilHealth.