House OKs bill repealing 61-year-old Medical Act

By Billy Begas

The House of Representatives has approved on second reading the proposed Physicians Act that will repeal the Medical Act of 1959.

House Committee on Health chairperson and Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan sponsored and defended House Bill 9061.

“Sixty-one years old na po ang Medical Act at talaga pong kinakailangan na po natin na mabago itong batas na ito especially alam natin ang doctors natin are touching the lives, hinahawakan po nila yung buhay natin so nakapahalaga po talaga yung pagbabago, pag-update and upgrade,” Tan said.

Tan said the measure seeks to update and modernize the existing law on the medical profession in order to develop and nurture competent, ethical, and globally competitive physicians and address the existing and evolving demands of the profession.

The measure creates a Medical Education Council under the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and reconstitutes the current Board of Medical Examiners into the Professional Regulatory Board of Medicine which is under the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

It also creates a Commission on Medical Profession Integration that will supervise and oversee the integration of the medical profession into one integrated national professional organization of physicians.

The bill also creates a technical panel for medical internship program composed of at least seven deans of CHED recognized colleges of their representatives.

The establishment of an innovate curriculum that applies non-traditional, flexible, creative, and open curricular framework, teaching-learning models, and methods o evaluation and assessment applied to basic medical education in real world situations are also allowed under the measure.

Foreigners will also be allowed to practice medicine in the Philippines without having to undergo the physicians’ licensure examination if the country where the foreigner is a citizen, allows Filipino citizens to practice medicine under the same condition.

The proposal also mandates that the base pay of doctors in government hospitals and clinics shall not be lower than Salary Grade 22 (P68,415).

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)