An Act Making Temporary Provisions for the Care of Invalid Civil Employees at Baguio, in the Province of Benguet, Pending the Establishment of a Government Sanitarium

July 14, 1902

ACT NO. 429

AN ACT MAKING TEMPORARY PROVISIONS FOR THE CARE OF INVALID CIVIL EMPLOYEES AT BAGUIO, IN THE PROVINCE OF BENGUET, PENDING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A GOVERNMENT SANITARIUM

SECTION 1. Pending the opening of feasible means of access to the town of Baguio, in the Province of Benguet, and the completion of a Government sanitarium at that point, temporary provision is hereby authorized for the care of the invalid civil employees and members of their families who may repair to Baguio for the purpose of recuperation.

SECTION 2. The Civil Governor is hereby authorized to appoint, with the approval and consent of the Commission, an attending physician and surgeon to take charge of the Government buildings now constructed or in process of construction at Baguio who shall receive a compensation at the rate of two thousand four hundred dollars per year.

SECTION 3. The attending physician and surgeon so appointed is hereby authorized to appoint one nurse of Class D, one employee of Class D, one employee of Class I, and one employee, at forty-five dollars per annum. The salaries in this Act mentioned shall be payable in money of the United States or the equivalent in local currency at the legal rate, and shall be payable monthly. The employees named shall be furnished food and lodging free of charge, but the attending physician and surgeon shall provide his own subsistence.

SECTION 4. The attending physician and surgeon shall act as superintendent of the buildings aforesaid and disbursing officer of the funds to be disbursed under this Act. He shall define and supervise the discharge of the duties of the employees aforesaid. He shall render all necessary medical and surgical attendance to all patients in the buildings aforesaid and in the Benguet Provincial Hospital. On the account of the existing lack of opportunity for purchasing medicines in Benguet, he shall fill all prescriptions for persons not entitled to treatment at the sanitarium as hereinafter provided, collecting a minimum charge of twenty-five cents in money of the United States, or its equivalent in local currency at the legal rate, for each prescription so filled, and shall pay all funds derived from the filling of such prescriptions and from all other sources received by virtue of this Act into the Insular Treasury. The attending physician and surgeon shall have the custody of and be responsible for all personal property and supplies available for carrying this Act into execution, and shall take over and be accountable for all property, material, and supplies heretofore purchased for the use of the Sanitarium at Baguio under the direction of the attending physician and surgeon of the Philippine Civil Hospital at Manila.

SECTION 5. The attending physician and surgeon shall receive into the buildings aforesaid civil officers and employees of the Insular and provincial governments and of the government of the city of Manila and the members of the families of such officers and employees upon reasonable application being made for such reception. He shall make weekly reports to the Secretary of the Interior covering all matters relating to the performance of his duties and to the occupancy of the buildings aforesaid and to the receipt and disbursement of funds, and shall communicate by telegraph if occasion requires. Persons received in the buildings aforesaid, in accordance with the provisions of this section, shall pay not less than two dollars nor more than four dollars, in money of the United States, per day for rooms, the amount to be fixed for each room by the attending physician and surgeon, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Additional servants, if needed for the comfort of persons received, shall be provided and subsisted by the persons desiring their services. No additional charge shall be made for medical and surgical attendance, medical supplies, nursing, or food to persons so received. The buildings under the charge of the attending physician and surgeon shall be a main building provided with wards and private rooms and such separate cottages or other buildings as have heretofore been or may hereafter be authorized. The attending physician and surgeon is also authorized to rent temporarily the cottages in this section named for the use of invalid or other civil officers and employees or members of their families at rentals to be fixed by the attending physician and surgeon and approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Persons occupying such cottages may provide their own food and servants, or may, if they choose, be provided with meals in the main building at two dollars per day, in money of the United States, for each person for subsistence and medical attendance. The Commissioner of Public Health, upon the request of the attending physician and surgeon and approval of the Secretary of the Interior, shall purchase and send to Baguio medical supplies needed for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 6. Any funds appropriated to the Philippine Civil Hospital for disbursement on account of the Civil Sanitarium at Baguio in Act Numbered Three hundred and eighty-nine, and unexpended, shall be available for the purposes provided by this Act, and shall be disbursed by the attending physician and surgeon in charge.

SECTION 7. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect August first, nineteen hundred and two.

ENACTED, July 14, 1902.