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REPUBLIC ACT No. 2382

THE MEDICAL ACT OF 1959

ARTICLE I
Objectives and Implementation

Section 1. Objectives. This Act provides for and shall govern (a) the standardization
and regulation of medical education; (b) the examination for registration of physicians;
and (c) the supervision, control and regulation of the practice of medicine in the
Philippines.

Section 2. Enforcement. For the purpose of implementing the provisions of this Act,

there are created the following agencies: the Board of Medical Education under the
Department of Education, and the Board of Medical Examiners under the
Commissioner of Civil Service.

ARTICLE II
The Board of Medical Education Its Functions

Section 3. Composition of Board of Medical Education. The Board of Medical

Education shall be composed of the Secretary of Education or his duly authorized
representative, as chairman, and the Secretary of Health or his duly authorized
representative, the Director of the Bureau of Private Schools or his duly authorized
representative, the chairman of the Board of Medical Examiners or his duly authorized
representative, a representative of private practitioners, upon recommendation of an
acknowledged medical association and a representative chosen by the Philippine
Association of Colleges and Universities, as members.

The officials acting as chairman and members of the Board of Medical Education shall
hold office during their incumbency in their respective positions.

Section 4. Compensation and traveling expenses. The chairman and members of the

Board of Medical Education shall not be entitled to any compensation except for
traveling expenses in connection with their official duties as herein provided.

For administrative purposes, the Board shall hold office in the office of its chairman,
who may designate a ranking official in the Department of Education to serve as
secretary of the Board.

Section 5. Functions. The functions of the Board of Medical Education shall be:

(a) To determine and prescribe minimum requirements for admission

into a recognized college of medicine;

(b) To determine and prescribe requirements for minimum physical

facilities of colleges of medicine, to wit: buildings, including hospitals,
equipment and supplies, apparatus, instruments, appliances,
laboratories, bed capacity for instruction purposes, operating and
delivery rooms, facilities for out-patient services, and others, used for
didactic and practical instructions in accordance with modern trends;

(c) To determine and prescribe the minimum number and the

minimum qualifications of teaching personnel, including student-
teacher ratio and curriculum;

(d) To determine and prescribe the number of students who should be

allowed to take up the preparatory course taking into account the
capacity of the different recognized colleges of medicine.

(e) To select, determine and approve hospitals or some departments

of the hospitals for training which comply with the minimum specific
physical facilities as provided in subparagraph (b) hereof: and

(f) To promulgate and prescribe and enforce necessary rules and

regulations for the proper implementation of the foregoing functions.

Section 6. Minimum required courses. Students seeking admission to the medical

course must have a bachelor of science or bachelor of arts degree or their equivalent
and must have taken in four years the following subjects with their corresponding
number of units:

Unit
English 12
Latin 3
Mathematics, including
9
Accounting and Statistics
Philosophy, including 12
 Psychology and Logic
Zoology and Botany 15
Physics 8
Chemistry 21
Library Science 1
Humanities and Social
12
Sciences
Twelve units of Spanish shall be required pursuant to Republic Act Numbered Seven
hundred nine; but commencing with the academic year nineteen hundred sixty to
nineteen hundred sixty-one, twenty-four units of Spanish shall be required pursuant to
Republic Act Numbered Eighteen hundred and eighty-one as cultural, social and
nationalistic studies.

Provided, That the following students may be permitted to complete the aforesaid
preparatory medical course in shorter periods as follows:

(a) Students whose general average is below eighty-five per cent but
without any grade of failure or condition may be allowed to pursue and
finish the course in three academic years and the intervening summer
sessions; and

(b) Students whose general average is eighty-five per cent or over

may be permitted to finish the course in three academic years by
allowing them to take each semester the overload permitted to bright
students under existing regulations of the Bureau of Private Schools.

Provided, That upon failure to maintain the general average of eighty-five per cent,
students under (b) shall automatically revert to the category of students under (a) and
those under (a), upon having any grade of failure or condition, shall automatically
revert to the category of students required to pursue the preparatory course in four
years mentioned above.

The medical course shall be at least five years, including not less than eleven rotating
internship in an approved hospital, and shall consist of the following subjects:

Anatomy

Physiology

Biochemistry and Nutrition

Pharmacology

Microbiology

Parasitology

Medicine and Therapeutics

 Genycology

Opthalmology, Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology

Pediatrics

Obstetrics

Surgery

Preventive Medicine and Public Health

Legal Medicine, including Medical Jurisprudence and Ethics.

Section 7. Admission requirements. The medical college may admit any student to its
first year class who has not been convicted by any court of competent jurisdiction of
any offense involving moral turpitude, and who presents (a) a certificate showing
completion of a standard high school course, (b) a record showing completion of a
standard preparatory medical course as herein provided, (c) a certificate of
registration as medical student, (d) a certificate of good moral character issued by two
former professors in the pre-medicine course, and (e) birth certificate and marriage
certificate, if any. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to inhibit any college of
medicine from establishing, in addition to the preceding, other entrance requirements
that may be deemed admissible.

For the purposes of this Act, the term "College of Medicine" shall mean to include
faculty of medicine, institute of medicine, school of medicine or other similar institution
offering a complete medical course leading to the degree of Doctor of Medicine or its
equivalent.

Every college of medicine must keep a complete record of enrollment, grades and
turnover, and must publish each year a catalogue giving the following information:

1. Date of publication

2. Calendar for the academic year

3. Faculty roll indicating whether on full time part time basis

4. Requirements of admission

5. Grading system

6. Requirements for promotion

7. Requirements for graduation

8. Medical hours per academic year by departments

 9. Schedule hours per academic year by departments

10. Number of students enrolled in each class.

ARTICLE III
THE BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS; REGISTRATION OF PHYSICIANS

Section 8. Prerequisite to the practice of medicine. No person shall engage in the

practice of medicine in the Philippines unless he is at least twenty-one years of age,
has satisfactorily passed the corresponding Board Examination, and is a holder of a
valid Certificate of Registration duly issued to him by the Board of Medical Examiners.

Section 9. Candidates for board examination. Candidates for Board examinations

shall have the following qualifications:

(1) He shall be a citizen of the Philippines or a citizen of any foreign

country who has submitted competent and conclusive documentary
evidence, confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, showing
that his country's existing laws permit citizens of the Philippines to
practice medicine under the same rules and regulations governing
citizens thereof;

(2) He shall be of good moral character, showing for this purpose

certificate of civil status;

(3) He shall be of sound mind;

(4) He shall not have been convicted by a court of competent

jurisdiction of any offense involving moral turpitude; and

(5) He shall be a holder of the degree of Doctor of Medicine or its

equivalent, conferred by a college of medicine duly recognized by the
Department of Education.

Section 10. Acts constituting practice of medicine. A person shall be considered as

engaged in the practice of medicine (a) who shall, for compensation, fee, salary or
reward in any form, paid to him directly or through another, or even without the same,
physical examine any person, and diagnose, treat, operate or prescribe any remedy
for any human disease, injury, deformity, physical, mental or physical condition or any
ailment, real or imaginary, regardless of the nature of the remedy or treatment
administered, prescribed or recommended; or (b) who shall, by means of signs, cards,
advertisements, written or printed matter, or through the radio, television or any other
means of communication, either offer or undertake by any means or method to
diagnose, treat, operate or prescribe any remedy for any human disease, injury,
deformity, physical, mental or physical condition; or (c) who shall use the title M.D.
after his name.

Section 11. Exemptions. The preceding section shall not be construed to affect (a)

any medical student duly enrolled in an approved medical college or school under
training, serving without any professional fee in any government or private hospital,
provided that he renders such service under the direct supervision and control of a
registered physician; (b) any legally registered dentist engaged exclusively in the
practice of dentistry; (c) any duly registered masseur or physiotherapist, provided that
he applies massage or other physical means upon written order or prescription of a
duly registered physician, or provided that such application of massage or physical
means shall be limited to physical or muscular development; (d) any duly registered
optometrist who mechanically fits or sells lenses, artificial eyes, limbs or other similar
appliances or who is engaged in the mechanical examination of eyes for the purpose
of constructing or adjusting eye glasses, spectacles and lenses; (e) any person who
renders any service gratuitously in cases of emergency, or in places where the
services of a duly registered physician, nurse or midwife are not available; (f) any
person who administers or recommends any household remedy as per classification
of existing Pharmacy Laws; and (g) any psychologist or mental hygienist in the
performance of his duties, provided such performance is done in conjunction with a
duly registered physician.

Section 12. Limited practice without any certificate of registration. Certificates of

registration shall not be required of the following persons:

(a) Physicians and surgeons from other countries called in

consultation only and exclusively in specific and definite cases, or
those attached to international bodies or organization assigned to
perform certain definite work in the Philippines provided they shall limit
their practice to the specific work assigned to them and provided
further they shall secure a previous authorization from the Board of
Medical Examiners.

(b) Commissioned medical officers of the United States armed forces

stationed in the Philippines while rendering service as such only for
the members of the said armed forces and within the limit of their own
respective territorial jurisdiction.

(c) Foreign physicians employed as exchange professors in special

branches of medicine or surgery whose service may in the discretion
of the Board of Medical Education, be necessary.

(d) Medical students who have completed the first four years of
medical course, graduates of medicine and registered nurses who
may be given limited and special authorization by the Secretary of
Health to render medical services during epidemics or national
emergencies whenever the services of duly registered physicians are
not available. Such authorization shall automatically cease when the
epidemic or national emergency is declared terminated by the
Secretary of Health.

Section 13. The Board of Medical Examiners, its composition and duties. The Board
of Medical Examiners shall be composed of six members to be appointed by the
President of the Philippines from a confidential list of not more than twelve names
approved and submitted by the executive council of the Philippine Medical
Association, after due consultation with other medical associations, during the months
of April and October of each year. The chairman of the Board shall be elected from
among themselves by the member at a meeting called for the purpose. The President
of the Philippines shall fill any vacancy that may occur during any examination from
the list of names submitted by the Philippine Medical Association in accordance with
the provisions of this Act.

No examiner shall handle the examinations in more than four subjects or groups of
subjects as hereinafter provided. The distribution of subject to each member shall be
agreed upon at a meeting called by the chairman for the purpose. The examination
papers shall be under the custody of the Commissioner of Civil Service or his duly
authorized representative, and shall be distributed to each member of the Board who
shall correct, grade, and sign, and submit them to the said Commissioner within one
hundred twenty days from the date of the termination of the examinations.

A final meeting of the Board for the deliberation and approval of the grades shall be
called by the Commissioner of Civil Service immediately after receipt of the records
from the members of the Board of Medical Examiners. The secretary of the Board
shall submit to the President of the Philippines for approval the names of the
successful candidates as having been duly qualified for licensure in alphabetical
order, without stating the ratings obtained by each.

Section 14. Qualifications of examiners. No person shall be appointed a member of

the Board of Medical Examiners unless he or she (1) is a natural-born citizen of the
Philippines, (2) is a duly registered physician in the Philippines, (3) has been in the
practice of medicine for at least ten years, (4) is of good moral character and of
recognized standing in the medical profession, (5) is not a member of the faculty of
any medical school and has no pecuniary interest, directly or indirectly, in any college
of medicine or in any institution where any branch of medicine is taught, at the time of
his appointment: Provided, That of the six members to be appointed, not more than
two shall be graduates of the same institution and not more than three shall be
government physicians.

Section 15. Tenure of office and compensation of members. The members of the

Board of Medical Examiners shall hold office for one year: Provided, That any
member may be reappointed for not more than one year. Each member shall receive
as compensation ten pesos for each candidate examined for registration as physician,
and five pesos for each candidate examined in the preliminary or final physician
examination.

The President of the Philippines, upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of

Civil Service , after due investigation, may remove any member of the Board of
Medical Examiners for neglect of duty, incompetency, or unprofessional or
dishonorable conduct.

Section 16. Executive Officer and Secretary of the Board. The Secretary of the

Boards of Examiners appointed in accordance with section ten of Act Numbered Four
thousand seven, as amended, shall also be the secretary of the Board of Medical
Examiners, who shall keep all the records, including examination papers, and the
minutes of the deliberations of the Board. He shall also keep a register of all persons
to whom certificates of registration has been granted; set forth the name, sec, age,
and place of birth of each, place of business, post office address, the name of the
medical college or university from which he graduated or in which he had studied,
together with time spent in the study of the profession elsewhere, the name of the
country where the institution is located which had granted to him the degree or
certificate of attendance upon clinic and all lectures in medicine and surgery, and all
other degrees granted to him from institutions of learning. He shall keep an up-to-date
registration book of all duly registered physicians in the Philippines. He shall furnish
copies of all examination questions and ratings in each subject of the respective
candidates in the physicians examination, one month after the release of the list of
successful examinees, to the deans of the different colleges of medicine exclusively
for the information and guidance of the faculties thereof. This report shall be
considered as restricted information. Any school which violates this rule shall be
deprived of such privilege. The secretary of the Board shall likewise keep a record of
all registered medical students. He shall keep all the records and proceedings, and
issue and receive all papers in connection with any and all complaints presented to
the Board.

Section 17. Rules and regulations. The Board of Medical Examiners, with the

approval of the Commissioner of Civil Service, shall promulgate such rules and
regulations as may be necessary for the proper conduct of the examinations,
correction of examination papers, and registration of physicians. The Commissioner
shall supervise each Board examination and enforce the said rules and regulations.
These rules and regulations shall take effect fifteen days after the date of their
publication in the Official Gazette and shall not be changed within sixty days
immediately before any examination. Such rules and regulations shall be printed and
distributed for the information and guidance of all concerned.

Section 18. Dates of examinations. The Board of Medical Examiners shall give

examinations for the registration of physicians, one in May and one in November
every year, in the City of Manila or any of its suburbs after giving not less than ten
days' notice to each candidate who had filed his name and address with the secretary
of the Board.

Section 19. Fees. The secretary of the Board, under the supervision of the

Commissioner of Civil Service, shall collect from each candidate the following fees:

For registration as P
medical student 5.00
For complete physician
75.00
examination
For preliminary or final
40.00
examination
For registration as
20.00
physician
All fees paid as provided herein shall accrue to the funds of the Board of Medical
Examiners and be expended for the payment of the compensation of the members
thereof. No fees other than those provided herein shall be paid to the Board.

Section 20. Issuance of Certificate of Registration, grounds for refusal of same. The

Commissioner of Civil Service and the secretary of the Board of Medical Examiners
shall sign jointly and issue certificates of registration to those who have satisfactorily
complied with the requirements of the Board. They shall not issue a certificate of
registration to any candidate who has been convicted by a court of competent
jurisdiction of any criminal offense involving moral turpitude, or has been found guilty
of immoral or dishonorable conduct after he due investigation by the Board of Medical
Examiners, or has been declared to be of unsound mind.

Section 21. Scope of examination. The examination for the registration of physicians

shall consist of the following subjects: (1) Anatomy and Histology, (2) Physiology, (3)
Biochemistry, (4) Microbiology and Parasitology, (5) Pharcology and Therapeutics, (6)
Pathology, (7) Medicine, (8) Obstetrics and Gynecology, (9) Pediatrics and Nutrition,
(10) Surgery and Opthalmology, Otolaryngology and Rhinology, (11) Preventive
Medicine and Public Health, and (12) Legal Medicine, Ethics and Medical
Jurisprudence: Provided, however, That the examination questions in each subject or
group of subject shall at least be ten in number: Provided, further, That the
examination questions in Medicine shall include at least three from the following
branches: Infectious diseases, Neurology, Dermatology, Allergy, Endocrinology and
Cardio-Vascular diseases: Provided, finally, That the examination questions in
Surgery shall include at least four questions from the following: Opthalmology,
Otology, Rhinology, Laryngology, Orthopedic Surgery and Anesthesiology.

The questions shall be the same for all applicants. All answers must be written either
in English or Spanish. No name of the examinee shall appear in the examination
paper but the examiners shall devise a system whereby each applicant can be
identified by number only.

In order that a candidate may be deemed to have passed his examination

successfully he must have obtained a general average of seventy-five per cent
without a grade lower than sixty-five per cent in Medicine, Pediatrics and Nutrition,
Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Preventive Medicine and Public Health, and no grade
lower than fifty per cent in the rest of the subjects.

The preliminary examinations shall comprise of the following subjects:

(1) Gross Anatomy and Histology

(2) Physiology

(3) Biochemistry

(4) Microbiology and Parasitology

Section 22. Administrative investigations. In addition to the functions provided for in

the preceding sections, the Board of Medical Examiners shall perform the following
duties: (1) to administer oath to physicians who qualified in the examination; (2) to
study the conditions affecting the practice of medicine in all parts of the Philippines;
(3) to exercise the powers conferred upon it by this article with the view of maintaining
the ethical and professional standards of the medical profession; (4) to subpoena or
subpoena duces tecum witnesses for all purposes required in the discharge of its
duties; and (5) to promulgate, with the approval of the Commissioner of Civil Service,
such rules and regulations as it may deem necessary for the performance of its duties
in harmony with the provisions of this Act and necessary for the proper practice of
medicine in the Philippines.

Administrative investigations may be conducted by not less than four members of the
Board of Medical Examiners; otherwise the proceedings shall be considered void. The
existing rules of evidence shall be observed during all administrative investigations.
The Board may disapprove applications for examination or registration, reprimand
erring physicians, or suspend or revoke registration certificates, if the respondents are
found guilty after due investigations.

Section 23. Procedure and rules. Within five days after the filling of written charges
under oath, the respondent physician shall be furnished a copy thereof, without
requiring him or her to answer the same, and the Board shall conduct the
investigation within five days after the receipt of such copy by the respondent. The
investigation shall be completed as soon as practicable.

Section 24. Grounds for reprimand, suspension or revocation of registration

certificate. Any of the following shall be sufficient ground for reprimanding a physician,
or for suspending or revoking a certificate of registration as physician:

(1) Conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction of any criminal

offense involving moral turpitude;

(2) Immoral or dishonorable conduct;

(3) Insanity;

(4) Fraud in the acquisition of the certificate of registration;

(5) Gross negligence, ignorance or incompetence in the practice of his

or her profession resulting in an injury to or death of the patient;

(6) Addiction to alcoholic beverages or to any habit forming drug

rendering him or her incompetent to practice his or her profession, or
to any form of gambling;

(7) False or extravagant or unethical advertisements wherein other

things than his name, profession, limitation of practice, clinic hours,
office and home address, are mentioned.

(8) Performance of or aiding in any criminal abortion;

(9) Knowingly issuing any false medical certificate;

(10) Issuing any statement or spreading any news or rumor which is

derogatory to the character and reputation of another physician
without justifiable motive;

(11) Aiding or acting as a dummy of an unqualified or unregistered

 person to practice medicine;

(12) Violation of any provision of the Code of Ethics as approved by

the Philippine Medical Association.

Refusal of a physician to attend a patient in danger of death is not a sufficient ground

for revocation or suspension of his registration certificate if there is a risk to the
physician's life.

Section 25. Rights of respondents. The respondent physician shall be entitled to be

represented by counsel or be heard by himself or herself, to have a speedy and public
hearing, to confront and to cross-examine witnesses against him or her, and to all
other rights guaranteed by the Constitution and provided for in the Rules of Court.

Section 26. Appeal from judgment. The decision of the Board of Medical Examiners

shall automatically become final thirty days after the date of its promulgation unless
the respondent, during the same period, has appealed to the Commissioner of Civil
Service and later to the Office of the President of the Philippines. If the final decision
is not satisfactory, the respondent may ask for a review of the case, or may file in
court a petition for certiorari.

Section 27. Reinstatement. After two years, the Board may order the reinstatement of
any physicians whose certificate of registration has been revoked, if the respondent
has acted in an exemplary manner in the community wherein he resides and has not
committed any illegal, immoral or dishonorable act.

ARTICLE IV
PENAL AND OTHER PROVISIONS

Section 28. Penalties. Any person found guilty of "illegal practice of medicine" shall

be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand pesos nor more than ten
thousand pesos with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, or by
imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than five years, or by both such fine
and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

Section 29. Injunctions. The Board of Medical Examiners may file an action to enjoin

any person illegally practicing medicine from the performance of any act constituting
practice of medicine if the case so warrants until the necessary certificate therefore is
secured. Any such person who, after having been so enjoined, continues in the illegal
practice of medicine shall be punished for contempt of court. The said injunction shall
not relieve the person practicing medicine without certificate of registration from
criminal prosecution and punishment as provided in the preceding section.

Section 30. Appropriation. To carry out the provisions of this Act, there is hereby
appropriated, out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated,
the sum of twenty thousand pesos.

Section 31. Repealing clause. All Acts, executive orders, administrative orders, rules

and regulations, or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are
repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 32. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect upon its approval: Provided, That if it
is approved during the time when examinations for physicians are held, it shall take
effect immediately after the said examinations: Provided, further, That section six of
this Act shall take effect at the beginning of the academic year nineteen hundred sixty
to nineteen hundred sixty-one, and the first paragraph of section seven shall take
effect four years thereafter.

Approved: June 20, 1959

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