[ Act No. 3826, October 08, 1931 ]

AN ACT REQUIRING THE REGISTRATION OF CLINICAL LABORATORIES WITH THE BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS, PROVIDING PENALTY FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Legislature assembled and by the authority of the same:SECTION 1. Any person, firm or corporation operating or maintaining a clinical laboratory in which body fluids, tissues, secretions or excretions from human beings or animals are examined for the determination of the presence of pathological organisms, processes or conditions from persons or animals from which they were secured, shall register annually in the Office of the Secretary-Treasurer of the Board of Medical Examiners giving the name of the person or persons owning or operating the same, together with their respective addresses. Laboratories operated by duly registered physicians for their personal of convenience need not be registered. Laboratories which after inspection are found to conform to the standard required by the Board of Medical Examiners shall be given a certificate of approval to be issued by the said Board and such laboratories will thereafter be designated as approved laboratories.SEC. 2. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to operate or maintain a clinical laboratory without the certificate of approval prescribed in section one of this Act.SEC. 3. The Board of Medical Examiners shall from time to time promulgate, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the proper running of registered laboratories and to carry into effect the provisions of this Act.SEC. 4. It shall be unlawful for any person to be in charge of a registered clinical laboratory unless said person pass such examination as may be prescribed by the Board of Medical Examiners. Likewise, it shall be unlawful for a person working in a registered clinical laboratory to report either orally or in writing to any one not connected with the laboratory on the results of any examination of body fluids, tissues, secretions or excretions from human beings or animals, unless the person making the report shall have passed such examination as may be prescribed by the Board of Medical Examiners. In order for a person to be eligible to take an examination for conducting a registered clinical laboratory or for making reports on the examination of body fluids, tissues, secretions or excretions from human beings or animals, such person shall hold a degree in medicine, pharmacy, or science with major work in biology or bacteriology, the degree having been granted at the end of a course of at least four years in an approved college or university: Provided, however, That any person licensed or privileged to practice medicine in the Philippine Islands or any person who had been regularly employed as bacteriologist or assistant bacteriologist, pathologist or assistant pathologist of any Bureau of the Government or any college of medicine duly recognized by the Government, who at the time of approval of this Act is in charge of a clinical laboratory of good standing shall be exempt from the examination mentioned in this section.SEC.  5. Any person,  firm or corporation violating the provisions of this Act shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred pesos or by imprisonment for not more than three months, or both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.SEC. 6. All acts or part of acts which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.SEC. 7. This Act shall take effect on its approval.Approved, October 8, 1931.

Source: Supreme Court E-Library