REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7609 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE CONVERSION OF SELECTED MUNICIPAL MAIN HEALTH CENTERS AS MAY BE DETERMINED BY MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH INTO MUNICIPAL HEALTH INFIRMARIES, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR June 11, 1992

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1.Declaration of Policy.– It is hereby declared the policy of the State to give primary concern to the promotion, protection, preservation or restoration of the health of the people through the provision and delivery of basic care services.

SEC. 2.Conversion of Municipal Main Health Centers to Municipal Health Infirmaries.– Pursuant to the above policy, selected municipal main health units as may be determined by the Members of the House of Representatives and the Department of Health shall be converted into five-bed capacity municipal health infirmaries.

SEC. 3.Criteria for Conversion. – The Department of Health and the Members of the House of Representatives shall be guided by the following criteria in the conversion of such municipal main health centers:

1. Absence of public health care facilities such as clinics or hospitals in the area;
   
2. Geographical consideration such as remoteness or isolation of communities from the mainland of a province by bodies of water or by formidable mountain terrain;
   
3. Inaccessibility to towns with medical care facilities due to lack of transportation facilities; and
   
4. General insufficiency of medical care facilities of the province or islands.
   

SEC. 4.Selection of Sites for Municipal Health Infirmary.– The regional health director through the provincial health officer shall recommend the main health centers which shall be converted into municipal health infirmaries in accordance with the criteria set forth in the preceding section:Provided,That, in the first year of implementing this Act, the health infirmaries shall be established in municipalities and cities enumerated in the attached list.

SEC. 5.Responsibilities and Duties.– The municipal health infirmary shall have the following responsibilities and duties:

1. Admit and extend first-aid treatment for emergency cases;
   
2. Transfer or refer patients to better-equipped government or private hospitals when necessary as soon as such patients are out of immediate danger; and
   
3. Provide basic health service to the people.
   

SEC. 6.Staffing Pattern and Required Personnel.– The existing medical staff and personnel of the municipal main health units concerned shall constitute the personnel of the infirmaries so established and, in addition thereto, without prejudice to appointing additional health personnel as may be determined necessary by the Department of Health.

SEC. 7.Equipment and Supplies.– The Department of Health shall. aside from drugs and medicines, provide each infirmary with the following equipment:

1. Basic sets for abnormal maternal delivery;
   
2. Minor surgical sets for suturing and repair of wounds;
   
3. Transfusion or infusion sets;
   
4. Microscope and laboratory sets for cross matching and typing, and identification of malarial and amoebic parasites;
   
5. Opthalmoscopic and otoscopic sets for EENT cases;
   
6. Trachetomy sets;
   
7. Basic fracture set boards or metal frames for fractures;
   
8. Intravenous sets;
   
9. Ambo bags for respiratory resuscitation; and
   
10. Local anesthetics or narcoleptics.
    

SEC. 8.Transfer of Personnel, Assets and Records.– The properties, records, obligations and appropriations of the municipal main health units concerned shall be transferred to the infirmaries so established.

SEC. 9.Rules and Regulations.– The Secretary of Health shall issue the necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act.

SEC. 10.Appropriations.– The amount necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act shall be included in the General Appropriations Act of the year following its enactment into law and thereafter.

SEC. 11. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved,

(Sgd.) NEPTALI A. GONZALES	(Sgd.) RAMON V. MITRA
President of the Senate	Speaker of the House of Representatives

This Act which originated in the House of Representatives was finally passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on November 25, 1991 and January 23, 1992, respectively.

(Sgd.) ANACLETO D. BADOY, JR.	(Sgd.) CAMILO L. SABIO
Secretary of the Senate	Secretary General House of Representatives

Approved: June 11, 1992