2019 / Apr
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 11332 AN ACT PROVIDING POLICIES AND PRESCRIBING PROCEDURES ON SURVEILLANCE AND RESPONSE TO NOTIFIABLE DISEASES, EPIDEMICS, AND HEALTH EVENTS OF PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, REPEALING FOR THE PURPOSE ACT NO. 3573, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE "LAW ON REPORTING OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES" April 26, 2019
[ REPUBLIC ACT NO. 11332, April 26, 2019 ]
AN ACT PROVIDING POLICIES AND PRESCRIBING PROCEDURES ON SURVEILLANCE AND RESPONSE TO NOTIFIABLE DISEASES, EPIDEMICS, AND HEALTH EVENTS OF PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, REPEALING FOR THE PURPOSE ACT NO. 3573, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE "LAW ON REPORTING OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES"
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
SECTION 1.Short Title. -This Act shall be known as the "Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act".
SEC. 2.Declaration of Policy.— It is hereby declared the policy of the State to protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them. Itshall endeavor to protect the people from public health threats through the efficient and effective disease surveillance of notifiable diseases including emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, diseases for elimination and eradication, epidemics, and health events including chemical, radio-nuclear and environmental agents of public health concern and provide an effective response system in compliance with the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO). The State recognizes epidemics and other public health emergencies as threats to public health and national security, which can undermine the social, economic, and political functions of the State.
The State also recognizes disease surveillance and response systems of the Department of Health (DOH) and its local counterparts, as the first line of defense to epidemics and health events of public health concern that pose risk to public health and security.
SEC. 3.Definition of Terms.- As used in this Act:
(a)Diseaserefers to an illness due to a specific toxicsubstance, occupational exposure or infectious agent, whichaffects a susceptible individual, either directly or indirectly, asfrom an infected animal or person, or indirectly through anintermediate host, vector, or the environment;
(b)Disease controlrefers to the reduction of diseaseincidence, prevalence, morbidity or mortality to a locallyacceptable level as a result of deliberate efforts and continuedintervention measures to maintain the reduction;
(c)Disease surveillancerefers to the ongoing systematiccollection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination ofoutcome-specific data for use in the planning, implementation,and evaluation of public health practice. A disease surveillancesystem includes the functional capacity for data analysis aswell as the timely dissemination of these data to persons whocan undertake effective prevention and control activities;
(d)Emerging or re-emerging infections diseasesrefer todiseases that: (1) have not occurred in humans before; (2) haveoccurred previously but affected only small numbers of peoplein isolated areas; (3) have occurred throughout human history but have only recently been recognized as a distant disease due to an infectious agent; (4) are caused by previously undetected or unknown infectious agents; (5) are due to mutant or resistant strains of a causative organism; and (6) once were major health problems in the country, and then declined dramatically, but are again becoming health problems for a significant proportion of the population;
(e)Epidemic /outbreakrefers-to an occurrence of morecases of disease than normally expected within a specific placeor group of people over a given period of time;
(f)Epidemiologic investigationrefers to an inquiry tothe incidence, prevalence, extent, source, mode of transmission,causation of, and other information pertinent to a diseaseoccurrence;
(g)Health event of public health concernrefers toeither a public health emergency or a public health threat dueto biological, chemical, radio-nuclear and environmental agents;
(h)Infectious diseaserefers to a clinically manifested disease of humans or animals resulting from an infection;
(i)Mandatory reportingrefers to the obligatory reporting of a condition to local or state health authorities, as required for notifiable diseases, epidemics or public health events of public health concern;
(j)Notifiable diseaserefers to a disease that, by legal requirements, must be reported to the public health authorities:
(k)Public health authorityrefers to the DOH (specifically the Epidemiology Bureau, Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, Bureau of Quarantine and International Health Surveillance, Health Emergency Management Bureau, Food and Drug Administration, government hospitals, Research Institute of Tropical Medicine and other National Reference Laboratories, and DOH Regional Offices), the local health office (provincial., city or municipality), or any person directly authorized to act on behalf of the DOH or the local health office;
(l)Public health emergencyrefers to an occurrence or imminent threat of an illness or health condition that:
(1) Is caused by any of the following:
(i)Bio terrorism;
(ii) Appearance of a novel or previously controlled or eradicated infectious agent or biological toxin;
(iii) A natural disaster;
(iv) A chemical attack or accidental release;
(v) A nuclear attack or accident; or
(vi) An attack or accidental release of radioactive materials; and
(2)Poses a high probability of any of the following:
(i) A large number of deaths in the affected population;
(ii) A large number of serious injuries or long-term disabilities in the affected population;
(iii) Widespread exposure to an infectious or toxic agent that poses a significant risk of substantial harm to a large number of people in the affected population;
(iv) International exposure to an infectious or toxic agent that poses a significant risk to the health of citizens of other countries; or
(v) Trade and travel restrictions;
(m)Public health threatrefers to any situation or factor that may represent a danger to the health, of the people; and
(n)Responserefers to the implementation of specific activities to control further spread of infection, outbreaks or epidemics and prevent re-occurrence. It includes verification, contact tracing, rapid risk assessment, case measures, treatment of patients, risk communication, conduct of prevention activities, and rehabilitation.
SEC. 4.Objectives. -This Act shall have the following objectives:
(a)To continuously develop and upgrade the list ofnationally notifiable diseases and health events of public healthconcern with their corresponding case definitions andlaboratory confirmation;
(b)To ensure the establishment and maintenance ofrelevant, efficient and effective disease surveillance and responsesystem at the national and local levels;
(c) To expand collaborations beyond traditional publichealth partners to include others who may be involved in thedisease surveillance and response, such as agriculturalagencies, veterinarians, environmental agencies, lawenforcement entities, and transportation and communicationagencies, among others;
(d)To provide accurate and timely health informationabout notifiable diseases, and health-related events andconditions to citizens and health providers as an integral partof response- to public health emergencies;
(e)To establish effective mechanisms for strongcollaboration with national and local government healthagencies to ensure proper procedures are in place to promptlyrespond to reports of notifiable diseases and health events ofpublic health concern, including case investigations, treatment,and control and containment, including follow-up activities;
(f)To ensure that public health authorities have thestatutory and regulatory authority to ensure the following:
(1)Mandatory reporting of importable diseases and healthevents of public health concern;
(2)Epidemic/outbreaks and/or epidemiologic investigation,case investigations, patient interviews, review of medical records, contact tracing, specimen collection and testing, riskassessments, laboratory investigation, population surveys, andenvironmental investigation;
(3) Quarantine and isolation: and
(4) Rapid containment and implementation of measures for disease prevention and control;
(g) To provide sufficient funding to support operations needed to establish and maintain epidemiology and surveillance units at the DOH, health facilities and local government units (LGUs); efficiently and effectively investigate outbreaks and health events of public health concern; validate, collect, analyze and disseminate disease surveillance information to relevant agencies or organizations; and implement appropriate response;
(h) To require public and private physicians, allied medical personnel, professional societies, hospitals, clinics, health facilities, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, private companies and institutions, workplaces, schools, prisons, ports, airports, establishments, communities, other government agencies, and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) to actively participate in disease surveillance and response; and
(i) To respect to the fullest extent possible, the rights of people to liberty, bodily integrity, and privacy while maintaining and preserving public health and security.
SEC. 5.Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern. -The Epidemiology Bureau under the DOH shall regularly update and issue a list of nationally notifiable diseases and health events of public health concern with their corresponding case definitions. The selection and the deletion of diseases and health events of public health concern shall be based on criteria established by the DOH.
SEC. 6.Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Concern, -The DOH, through the Epidemiology Bureau, shall issue the official list of institutionalized public health information system, disease surveillance and response systems for mandatory reporting of notifiable diseases and health events of public concern provided in Section 5 of this Act.. This official list shall include the Field Health Service Information System (FHSIS), the Philippine Integrated Disease Surveillance Response (PIDSE,) System with its Case-based Surveillance and Event-based Surveillance, and other duly institutionalized public health disease surveillance and response systems of the DOH.
Under this Act:
(a)The DOH and its local counterparts are mandatedto implement the mandatory reporting of notifiable diseasesand health events of public health concern;
(b)The DOH and its local counterparts shall establishand maintain functional disease surveillance and responsesystems, which include coordination mechanisms,implementation protocols for reporting and response, measuresfor data security and confidentiality, and procedures and provision to ensure safety of personnel conducting diseasesurveillance and response activities;
(c)All public and private physicians, allied medicalpersonnel, professional societies, hospitals, clinics, healthfacilities, laboratories, institutions, workplaces, schools, prisons,ports, airports, establishments, communities, other governmentagencies, and NGOs are required to accurately andimmediately report notifiable diseases and health events ofpublic health concern as issued by the DOH;
(d)Data collection, analysis, and the dissemination ofinformation from official disease surveillance and responsesystems can only be done by authorized personnel from theDOH and its local counterparts and may only be used forpublic health concern purposes only; thus, should be exemptedin the provision of Data Privacy Act on accessibility of data;
(e)To perform their disease surveillance and responsefunctions, authorized health personnel from the DOH and itslocal counterparts have the statutory and regulatory authorityto enforce the following:
(1)Establishment of public health information systemdisease surveillance and response systems in private and publicfacilities deemed necessary to protect the health of thepopulation in coordination with the DOH-Epidemiology Bureau;
(2)Mandatory reporting of notifiable diseases and healthevents of public health concern;
(3)Conduct of epidemic/outbreak and epidemiologicinvestigations, case investigations, patient interviews, reviewof medical records, contact tracing, collection, storage, transport and testing of samples and specimen, risk assessments, laboratory investigation, population surveys, and environmental investigation;
(4) Rapid containment, quarantine and isolation, diseaseprevention and control measures, and product recall;
(5)Response activities for events of public health concern;
(f)The DOH and its local counterparts shall ensurethat all surveillance and response officers have adequatecapacity for mandatory reporting of notifiable diseases, riskassessment, epidemiology, disease surveillance, and response toepidemics and health events of public health concern. It shallalso ensure that the safety and protection of all personneldirectly involved in surveillance and response activities areupheld; and
(g)All personnel of the DOH and its local counterparts,and all other individuals or entities involved in conductingdisease surveillance and response activities shall respect, to thefullest extent possible, the rights of people to liberty, bodilyintegrity, and privacy while maintaining and preserving publichealth and security.
SEC. 7.Declaration of Epidemic or Public Health Emergency.- The Secretary of Health shall have the authority to declare epidemics of national and/or international concerns except when the same threatens national security. In which case, the President of the Republic of the Philippines shall declare a State of Public Health Emergency and mobilize governmental and nongovernmental agencies to respond to the threat.
Provincial, city or municipal health offices may only declare a disease outbreak within their respective localities provided the declaration, is supported by, sufficient scientific evidence based on disease surveillance/data, epidemiologic investigation, environmental investigation, and laboratory investigation.
SEC. 8.Establishment of Epidemiology and Surveillance Units. -The DOH, in coordination with the LGUs, shall ensure that the Epidemiology and Surveillance Units (ESUs) are established and functional in all levels of the DOH and its local counterparts, and in public and private health facilities and laboratories, as well as ports and airports in all provinces, cities and municipalities throughout the country. The ESU shall capture and verify all reported notifiable diseases and health events of public health concern; provide timely, accurate, and reliable epidemiologic information to appropriate agencies: conduct disease surveillance and response activities; coordinate needed response; and facilitate capacity building in the field of epidemiology, disease surveillance and response at the Epidemiology Bureau.
All ESUs shall have trained required human resource complement and provision of adequate resources, including equipment, logistics, communication, transportation, laboratory supplies and reagents, personal protective equipment and health insurance, to effectively perform their disease surveillance and response functions.
SEC. 9.Prohibited Acts. -The following shall be prohibited under this Act:
(a)Unauthorized disclosure of private and confidentialinformation pertaining to a patient's medical condition ortreatment;
(b)Tampering of records or intentionally providingmisinformation;
(c)Non-operation of the disease surveillance andresponse systems;
(d)Non-cooperation of persons and entities that shouldreport and/or respond to notifiable diseases or health eventsof public concern; and
(e)Non-cooperation of the person or entities identified ashaving the notifiable disease, or affected by the health eventof public concern.
Disclosure of confidential information will not be considered violation of this Act under this section if the disclosure was made to comply with a legal order issued by a court of law with competent jurisdiction.
SEC. 10.Penalties. -Any person or entity found to have violated Section 9 of this Act shall be penalized with a fine of not less than Twenty thousand pesos (P20.000.00) but not more than Fifty thousand pesos (P50.000.00) or imprisonment of not less than one (1) month but not more than six (6) months, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the proper court.
The Professional Regulation Commission shall have the authority to suspend or revoke the license to practice of any medical professional for any violation of this Act.
The Civil Service Commission shall have the authority to suspend or revoke the civil service eligibility of a public servant who is in violation of this Act.
If the offense is committed by a public or private health facility, institution, agency, corporation, school, or other juridical entity duly organized in accordance with law, the chief executive officer, president, general manager, or such other officer in charge shall be held liable. In addition, the business permit and license to operate of the concerned facility, institution, agency, corporation, school, or legal entity shall be cancelled.
SEC 11.Appropriations.- The amount needed for the initial implementation of this Act shall be charged against the current year's appropriations of the DOH. Thereafter, such sums as may be necessary for the continued implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.
SEC. 12.Implementing Rules and Regulations. —The DOH shall issue the implementing rules and regulations for this Act within one hundred twenty (120) days after the approval of this Act.
SEC. 13.Separability Clause. -If any part, section orprovision of this Act is held invalid or unconstitutional, otherprovisions not affected thereby shall remain in full force andeffect.
SEC. 14.Repealing Clause.- Act No. 3573, otherwise known as the "Law on Reporting of Communicable Diseases", is hereby repealed. All laws, decrees, orders, issuances and rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
SEC. 15.Effectivity.- This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in theOfficial Gazetteor in a newspaper of general circulation.
Approved,
(SGD.)VICENTE C. SOTTO III President of the Senate | (SGD.)GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO Speaker of the House of Representatives |
This Act was passed by the Senate of the Philippines as Senate Bill No. 2186 on February 4. 2019 and adopted by the House of Representatives as an amendment to House Bill No. 7134- on February 8, 2019.
(SGD.)MYRA MARIE D. VILLARICA Secretary of the Senate | (SGD.)DANTE ROBERTO P. MALING Acting Secretary General House of Representatives |
Approved: APR 26 2019
(SGD.)RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE
President of the Philippines