Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has filed a bill seeking to provide a more comprehensive and responsive regulation for the practice of the medical profession.
Gatchalian filed Senate Bill No. 953 or the proposed Physicians Act which would upgrade the standards on basic medical education, internship and post-graduate medical education and training.
Passage into law of the Physicians Act would pave the way for the creation of the Medical Education Council (MEC) which would be under the administrative supervision of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
Part of the MEC’s functions will include the determination of the minimum required curriculum leading to the degree of Doctor of Medicine, including internship, Gatchalian said.
The MEC would also be authorized the opening of new medical schools upon compliance with minimum requirements. It would also determine, among others, the minimum number and standard qualifications of administrative and teaching personnel, and the minimum requirements for admission into a recognized college of medicine.
“Medicine, as a branch of health science, is always in a flux of development in education, practice, technology, and systems,” Gatchalian said in the bill’s explanatory note.
“Thus, the Practice of Medicine's governing law must be appropriate and responsive to the ever changing educational, economic, societal, technological, and scientific Innovations, and global advancements,” he said.
The same bill also seeks the creation of the Professional Regulatory Board of Medicine (PRBM) under the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), whose functions will include the supervision, regulation, and monitoring of the practice of medicine in the Philippines, including telemedicine.
The PRBM will also be tasked to conduct the Physician Licensure Examination (PLE), and determine and evaluate qualifications of the applicants for the PLE.
The bill also seeks the creation of the Post-Graduate Medical Education Council (PGMEC) under the PRBM; the body shall ensure the quality of post-graduate medical education and training for all disciplines, specialties, and sub-specialties of medical residents.
Under the bill, the entire medical profession will be under the Integrated National Professional Organization of Physicians (INPOP), which will have the power to investigate violations of this Act, Code of Ethics, as well as pertinent rules and regulations, administrative policies, orders, and issuances.
Gatchalian said the measure also seeks to address policies that have long been absent in existing laws on the medical profession, such as opening up the practice of profession to foreigners conditioned on reciprocity; providing for penalties for illegal practice of medicine; and stipulating a definition of medical malpractice and the corresponding penalties for such.