Amendments to R.A. No. 1243 as Amended (Hospital Residency Law)

June 9, 1978

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1424

FURTHER AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1243, AS AMENDED BY REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2251, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE HOSPITAL RESIDENCY LAW

WHEREAS, Republic Act No. 1243, approved on June 10, 1955, as amended by Republic Act No. 2251 dated June 18, 1959, which has been enforced for the last twenty-two (22) years, has been found to be unresponsive to the needs and demands of the government service as envisioned by the New Society; cdt

WHEREAS, the said law did not provide for the utilization of graduates of the Residency Program in the government service where they are most needed thus resulting in brain drain of medical manpower; and

WHEREAS, with the progress of medical science, it is felt that other disciplines should be included in the training programs;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree the following amendments to Republic Act No. 1243, as amended by Republic Act No. 2251, otherwise known as the Hospital Residency Law:

SECTION 1. All appointees to vacancies in the different teaching or training hospitals under the Department of Health and the Department of National Defense in the various disciplines shall be known as Resident Trainees. cd i

SECTION 2. All physicians undergoing training in the teaching and training hospitals under the Department of Health and the Department of National Defense shall not be covered by the provisions of Republic Act 5901 (40-Hours a Week Law).

SECTION 3. The training programs shall embrace the following disciplines:

1.	Orthopedic Surgery	4 years
2.	General Surgery	4 years
3.	General Medicine	4 years
4.	Ob.-Gyn.	4 years
5.	Pediatrics	4 years
6.	E.E.N.T.	4 years
7.	Neurology & Psychiatry	4 years
8.	Radiology & Radiotherapy	4 years
9.	Urology (1 yr. General Surgery;
	3 yrs. Urology)	4 years
10.	Pulmonary Diseases	4 years
11.	Anesthesiology	3 years
12.	Pathology	3 years
13.	Rehabilitation	3 years
14.	General Practice	2 1/2 years
15.	Tropical Medicine	2 years
16.	Clinical Pathology	2 years

SECTION 4. The supervision and control of these training programs shall be under the Department of Health and the Department of National Defense. cd

SECTION 5. To utilize the graduates of these training programs, the Department of Health and the Department of National Defense shall draw up a program to assimilate and utilize these graduates in the government medical service.

SECTION 6. The Secretary of Health and the Secretary of National Defense shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to implement this Decree.

SECTION 7. All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations inconsistent with this Decree are hereby repealed, modified or amended accordingly.

SECTION 8. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 9th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Eight.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 74 No. 42 Page 8263 on October 16, 1978.