Amendments to Revised Administrative Code Re: Practice of Medicine by Medical Officers of US Veterans Administration

June 22, 1957

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1885

AN ACT AMENDING SECTIONS SEVEN HUNDRED SEVENTY AND SEVEN HUNDRED SEVENTY-ONE OF THE REVISED ADMINISTRATIVE CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES TO AUTHORIZE MEDICAL OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES VETERANS ADMINISTRATION IN THE PHILIPPINES TO PRACTICE MEDICINE

SECTION 1. Section seven hundred seventy and seven hundred seventy-one of the Revised Administrative Code are hereby amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 770. Inhibition against practicing medicine by uncertificated persons. — No persons shall practice medicine in the Philippines without having previously obtained the proper certificate of registration issued by the Board of Medical Examiners as herein constituted, or the lawful Board which was its predecessor, except as hereinafter stated in this section and in the next following section of this Act.

"A person shall be considered to practice medicine within the meaning of this section, who shall, for compensation or reward or even without the same diagnose, treat, operate, prescribe remedies for any human disease, injury, deformity, physical or mental condition or any ailment, real or supposed, regardless of the nature of the remedy or treatment used or recommended, or who shall, by means of signs, cards, advertisements, or in any other way either offer or undertake by any means or method to diagnose, treat, manipulate, adjust, operate, or prescribe for any human disease, pain, injury, deformity, physical or mental condition.

"This section shall not be construed to affect commissioned medical officers serving in the U.S. Army, Navy, or Public Health Service in the discharge of their duties or medical officers of the United States Veterans Administration, Manila Regional Office, in the discharge of their duties in accordance with governing rules and regulations of said U. S. Veterans Administration: Provided, however, That not more than three medical officers of the U. S. Veterans Administration shall be allowed this exemption, and that said medical officers of the U. S. Veterans Administration shall submit their names and qualifications to the Board of Medical Examiners for registration; or any one serving without professional fees as interns on the resident staff of any legally incorporated hospital; or the furnishing of medicine by authorized Government employees in Government free dispensaries; or any legally registered dentist exclusively engaged in practicing dentistry; or the application of massage whenever advised by duly registered physicians or limited to hygienic or aesthetic purposes; or any persons who mechanically fits or sells lenses, artificial eyes; limbs or other apparatus or appliances, or is engaged in the mechanical examination of eyes, for the purpose of constructing or adjusting spectacles, eyeglasses, and lenses; or the furnishing of medical assistance gratuitously in case of emergency or in places where the services of the duly qualified physician, midwife, or nurse are not available or the administration of family remedies; or the practice of chiropody."

"Sec. 771. Persons exempt from registration. — Registration shall not be required of the following classes of persons:

(a) Physicians and surgeons from other countries called in consultation.

(b) Medical students who are practicing medicine under the direct supervision of a duly registered physician.

(c) Medical officers of the U. S. Army, U. S. Navy, or the U. S. Public Health Service, or the U. S. Veterans Administration while the latter are engaged in the discharge of their duties in accordance with governing rules and regulations of the veterans administration.

(d) Foreigners employed as technical officers or professors in such special branches of medicine or surgery as may, in the judgment of the Secretary of (Public Instruction) Education, be necessary and indispensable in the Philippines.

(e) In cases of epidemics or in municipalities where there is no legally qualified practicing physician, or when the circumstances require it, in the interest of the public health, the Director of Health may issue special authorizations, to all medical students who have completed the first three years of their studies, or to persons who have qualified in medicine, and to graduate or registered nurses, who may request it."

SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 22, 1957

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 53, No. 18, p. 6058 on September 30, 1957