[ Act No. 2156, February 06, 1912 ]

AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE CONSOLIDATION OF MUNICIPALITIES INTO SANITARY DIVISION AND THE REORGANIZATION OF THE MUNICIPAL BOARDS OF HEALTH CREATED BY ACT NUMBERED THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHT; DEFINING THEIR POWERS AND DUTIES, AND PROVIDING FOR EACH PROVINCE A SPECIAL FUND TO BE KNOWN AS " HEALTH FUND" FOR THIS AND OTHER PURPOSES.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Legislature, that:SECTION 1. Provincial boards are hereby authorized, for the purposes of health administration, to divide their provinces into sanitary division, which may comprise one or more municipalities and these division shall become effective in a province whenever their organization has been agreed to by at least two-thirds of the municipal councils concerned: Provided, That to dissolve such sanitary division, the vote of two-thirds of the municipalities concerned shall be necessary. Any group of municipalities joined to constitute a sanitary division may have a divisional board of health organized in  accordance with the provisions of Act Numbered Three hundred and eight, relative to the organization of municipal boards of health.There shall be for each division a president who shall be appointed by the Director of Health from among the persons proposed by the municipal councils concerned and recommended by the provincial board.   The powers, duties, and remuneration of such president shall be fixed in the manner hereinafter provided.   The president of a sanitary division shall be a duly qualified physician and shall fulfill his duties under the immediate supervision of the district health officer: Provided, That in emergency conditions, of the existence of which the Director of Health shall judge, persons with qualifications satisfying the Director of Health may be appointed to act temporarily as presidents of municipal sanitary divisions.SEC. 2. The president of a sanitary division shall reside in the municipality, the location of which, in the judgment of the district health officer, will afford the greatest facilities for the proper discharge of his duties.SEC. 3. The powers and duties of the president of a sanitary division shall be as follows:

(a) He shall, subject to the direction of the district health officer and the divisional board of health, exercise general supervision over the hygienic and sanitary conditions of the division, including the public and private premises therein, and shall enforce all sanitary laws and regulations, and shall cause to be prosecuted all violators of sanitary laws and regulations and shall enforce all regulations made by the Director of Health.He shall have the power and authority to abate any nuisance endangering the public health and to remove the cause of any special disease or mortality, and to enforce any quarantine regulations applying to a municipal district.(b) He shall provide himself with the necessary appliances and also the instruments for all emergency cases, medical, surgical, and obstetrical.(c) He shall draft and recommend to the municipal councils of his division the necessary ordinances for the enforcement of the provisions of paragraphs (k), (l), (m), (n), (p), (q) and (r), of section thirty-nine of the Municipal Code.(d) He shall inspect at least weekly, and as much oftener as may be necessary each of the municipalities in his division, and shall give free consultation to the indigent poor in each municipality for at least two hours weekly in the local municipal building or any other local available building found to be more suitable.(e)  He shall, when requested, attend personally and gratuitously all cases of dystocic labor among the poor and, when necessary, shall request the assistance of the president of the nearest sanitary division.(f) He shall prepare and forward to the district health officer the quarterly report and other health reports of each municipality within his division.(g) He shall keep such records and statistics as may be required by the district health officer.(h) He shall carry out, and when so directed, he shall supervise the work of vaccination and disinfection in his division.(i) He shall visit any house or place where any person is suffering or is dead of a dangerous, communicable disease and shall carry out the prescribed and other measures necessary to prevent the spread of such disease. He shall, whenever practicable, furnish free medicines to indigent patients, and when requested he shall render, free of charge, medical services to all Government officers and employees, to all persons in custody, and to other persons entitled to such service.(j) In the case of accidents or serious injuries received by an indigent person whose condition is such as not to allow of removal to the municipal building, he shall when requested afford free treatment at the person's own house or elsewhere.(k) Whenever required by the Director of Health he shall cooperate with the presidents of other sanitary divisions in the suppression of any epidemic.(I) He shall when requested by the district health officer examine the bodies of persons who die without medical attendance in his division, and shall issue the necessary certificate of death.(m) He shall, once a year or more frequently if necessary, give in each of the barrios or other convenient areas of his sanitary division a public lecture in the local dialect, either directly or through an interpreter, on medical and sanitary subjects of local importance.(n) He shall, whenever so directed by the district health officer, attend the conferences of presidents of sanitary divisions which the district health officer is hereby authorized to call.

SEC. 4. There shall be maintained in every municipality a suitable stock or drugs and medical supplies under the charge and responsibility of the president of the sanitary division. From any such stock articles may be sold at cost plus the necessary reasonable surcharge to cover cost of preparation and losses due to transportation, deterioration, or other causes. The permanent value of such stock at any dispensary shall not exceed two hundred and fifty pesos. The sale of medicines from the public stock shall be prohibited whenever a pharmacy is opened by a pharmacist or other person legally authorized to sell medicines in the locality, and whenever such pharmacy is opened the municipal supplies shall be used exclusively for public free service.SEC. 5. Each municipality of a sanitary division shall have one or more sanitary inspectors, appointed by the provincial board on tors' the recommendation of the district health officer after consulting with the president of the sanitary division; except in cases of emergency such appointees shall be selected in accordance with the requirements of the Director of Civil Service: Provided, That with the approval of the Director of Health, persons who have previous to the passage of this law held the position of president of a municipal board of health, not ex officio, may be appointed sanitary inspectors without previous examination; likewise undergraduates of medicine and persons now holding the office of sanitary inspector.The duties and powers of sanitary inspectors shall be determined by the district health officer of the province in conference with the presidents of the local sanitary divisions.SEC. 6. Each municipality shall set aside each year an amount not less than five per centum nor more than ten per centum from fund its general funds and each provincial board shall set aside a like amount from its general funds, which amount, added to that appropriated by the municipalities under its jurisdiction shall constitute a special fund to be known as "health fund:" Provided, That municipalities whose general funds do not exceed three thousand pesos a year shall, upon application to the Director of Health, be exempted from the requirements of this section and shall in such case not be entitled to the benefits of this Act.The health fund thus created shall be deposited with the provincial treasurer and shall be used only for the purpose of paying the salaries and traveling expenses of presidents, subordinate officers and employees of the sanitary divisions of the province, and for the purchase of medicines, medical supplies, and disinfectants to be distributed among the municipalities concerned for sanitary and other medical purposes: Provided, That if at the close of the fiscal year there shall remain any balance in the health fund provincial boards are hereby authorized to accumulate such balances from year to year for the purpose of establishing hospitals, benevolent institutions in  the province, or of carrying out other permanent sanitary improvements: Provided, however, That  whenever in the course of official service any president of a sanitary division travels to visit or attend any pay client or patient, he shall not be entitled to reimbursement for any traveling expenses incurred in this latter regard and shall state in a sworn voucher to accompany his claim for reimbursement that the claim does not include any such expense.SEC. 7. The provincial boards shall in accordance with recommendation of the district health officer. when approved by the Director of Health, fix the salaries of the presidents of sanitary divisions and other sanitary employees of the province: Provided, That the salaries of presidents of sanitary divisions shall not be less than one thousand two hundred pesos per annum nor more than three thousand six hundred pesos per annum.SEC. 8. Traveling expenses of presidents of sanitary divisions and other sanitary employees on official business shall be regulated by the district health officer of the province with the approval of the provincial board.SEC. 9. Leave of absence due to illness or other cause shall be allowed under such conditions as the provincial authorities and the district health officer may approve: Provided, That during epidemics no leave shall be granted without the approval of the Director  of Health. In case of illness, or authorized absence the president of a sanitary division may, with the approval of the district health officer, arrange with the president of another sanitary division to act in his stead, such service to be without additional salary; in such cases the president so acting shall recover the traveling expenses and per diems to which the regular incumbent of the position is entitled.   In the event of any officer refusing to render such service the  district health officer shall designate for duty such president as he deems fit.SEC. 10. Presidents of sanitary divisions and sanitary inspectors shall not be removed from office without an investigation made by the provincial board and the health officer of the district.  In any such investigation the accused shall be given an opportunity to defend himself before final  is taken and he shall also have a right of appeal to the Director of Health,  who may confirm, rescind, or vary the decision of the provincial board.SEC. 11. Presidents of sanitary divisions, under this Act, shall, within their divisions, exercise all the powers conferred on presidents of municipal boards of health under existing laws relating to public health.SEC. 12. Any Person violating any regulation made under the provisions of this Act, or made under the provisions of the sanitary laws of the Philippine Islands, or violating a written order issued under such regulations, shall upon conviction be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred pesos.  The procedure for the prosecution of the violations penalized by this section shall be that provided for by existing laws.SEC. 13. All parts of Act Numbered Three hundred and eight which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be held to limit the existing powers of the Director of Health, and that all the functions and duties under this Act shall be under his supervision.SEC. 14. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section one, Act Numbered Nineteen hundred and forty-five of the Philippine Legislature, and this Act shall take effect immediately upon its passage.Enacted, February 6, 1912.

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