Administrative Code of 1987/Book IV/Title IX/Chapter 4

by Corazon Aquino

Layout 2

Chapter 4—Offices and Bureaus

Sec. 13. Office for Public Health Services.—The Office for Public Health Services, headed by an Undersecretary, shall include ten (10) staff services involved in policy formulation, standards development, program development, and program monitoring of disease control and service delivery programs implemented by the field offices. The Undersecretary for Public Health Services, who shall be supported by an Assistant Secretary, shall supervise the following:

(1) Maternal and Child Health Service which shall formulate plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques relative to maternal and child health; provide consultative training and advisory services to implementing agencies; and conduct studies and research related to health services for mothers and children;

(2) Tuberculosis Control Service which shall formulate plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques relative to the control of morbidity and mortality from tuberculosis; provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies; and conduct studies and research related to tuberculosis;

(3) Family Planning Service which shall formulate plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques relative to family planning in the context of health and family welfare; provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies; and conduct studies and research related to family planning;

(4) Environmental Health Service which shall formulate plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques relative to environmental health and sanitation; provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies; and conduct studies and research related to environmental health;

(5) Nutrition Service which shall formulate plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques relative to nutrition services in the context of primary health care, provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies; and conduct studies and research related to nutrition;

(6) Dental Health Service which shall formulate plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques relative to dental health services; provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies; and conduct studies and research related to dental services;

(7) Malaria Control Service which shall formulate plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques relative to the control of malaria; provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies; and conduct studies and research to malaria and its control;

(8) Schistosomiasis Control Service which shall formulate plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques relative to the control of schistosomiasis; provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies; and conduct studies and research related to schistosomiasis and its control;

(9) Communicable Disease Control Service which shall formulate plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques relative to the control of communicable diseases, other than the major causes of mortality and morbidity, such as leprosy, sexually transmitted diseases, filariasis and others; provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies; and conduct studies and research related to these other communicable diseases;

(10) Non-communicable Disease Control Service which shall formulate plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques relative to the control of non-communicable diseases; provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies; and conduct studies and research related to mental illness, cardiovascular disease, cancer, other non-communicable diseases, and occupational health.

Sec. 14. Office for Hospital and Facilities Services.—The Office for Hospital and Facilities Services, headed by an Undersecretary who shall be supported by an Assistant Secretary, shall include four (4) staff services involved in policy formulation, standards development, program monitoring and provision of specialized assistance in the operations of hospitals and the management of facilities, which are as follows:

(1) Hospital Operations and Management Service which shall formulate and implement plans, programs, policies, standards and techniques related to management improvement and quality control of hospital operations; provide consultative, training and advisory services to field offices in relation to the supervision and management of hospital components; and conduct studies and research related to hospital operations and management;

(2) Radiation Health Service which shall formulate and implement plans, programs, policies, standards and techniques to ensure radiation health safety; provide consultative, monitoring, training and advisory services to private and government facilities with radiation-emitting apparatus; and conduct studies and research related to radiation health;

(3) Hospital Maintenance Service which shall formulate and implement plans, programs, policies, standards and techniques related to assuring the proper maintenance of Department equipment; provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies in relation to preservation, repair and maintenance of medical and non-medical equipment of the Department; and conduct studies and research related to equipment and facility maintenance;

(4) Health infrastructure Service which shall formulate and implement plans, policies, programs, standards and techniques related to development and preservation of health infrastructure; provide consultative, training and advisory services to implementing agencies in relation to infrastructure projects to assure economical and efficient implementation; and conduct studies and research related to infrastructure development and utilization.

Sec. 15. Office for Standards and Regulations.—The Office for Standards and Regulations, headed by an Undersecretary and supported by an Assistant Secretary, shall include three (3) bureaus and one (1) national office that shall be responsible for the formulation of regulatory policies and standards over the various areas of concern in the health sector, whose implementation shall be the general responsibility of the Department's regional field offices. The same bureaus shall also be responsible for those areas of activity covered by regulatory policy to provide the Secretary with current information on the status of these regulated areas of activity and to provide the Secretary with a basis for preliminary evaluation of the efficiency of the Department's field offices in performing their regulatory functions. The same bureaus shall conduct studies and research pertinent to their areas of responsibility. In certain instances the bureaus may also perform consultative, training and advisory services to the practitioners and institutions in the area of regulated activity. The same bureaus and national office are the following:

(1) Bureau of Research and Laboratories which shall develop and formulate plans, standards and policies, for the establishment and accreditation and licensing of laboratories; blood banks and entities handling biological products; provide consultative, training and advisory services to public and private laboratories; and conduct studies and research related to laboratory procedures and operations;

(2) Bureau of Food and Drugs which shall act as the policy formulation and sector monitoring arm of the Secretary on matters pertaining to foods, drugs, traditional medicines, cosmetics and household products containing hazardous substances, and the formulation of rules, regulations and standards in accordance with Republic Act 3720 (1963), as amended by Executive Order No. 175, s. 1987, and other pertinent laws for their proper enforcement; prescribe general standards and guidelines with respect to the veracity of nutritional and medicinal claims in the advertisement of food, drugs and cosmetics in the various media, to monitor such advertisements; advise the Department's field offices to call upon any erring manufacturer, distributor, or advertiser to desist from such inaccurate or misleading nutritional or medicinal claims in their advertising; should such manufacturer, distributor, or advertiser refuse or fail to obey the desistance order issued by the Bureau, he shall be subject to the applicable penalties as may be prescribed by law and regulations; the Bureau shall provide consultative, training and advisory services to all agencies and organizations involved in food and drug manufacturing and distribution with respect to assuring safety and efficacy of food and drugs; conduct studies and research related to food and drug safety; maintain a corps of specially trained food and drugs inspectors for assignment to the various field offices of the Department; while these inspectors shall be under the technical supervision and guidance of the Bureau, they shall be under the administrative supervision of the head of the field offices to which they shall be assigned, the latter being responsible for regulatory program implementation within the geographic area of his jurisdiction;

(3) Bureau of Licensing and Regulation which shall formulate policies and establish the standards for the licensing and regulation of hospitals, clinics and other health facilities; establish standards that shall be the basis of inspections and licensure procedures of the Department's field offices; and provide consultative, training and advisory services to field offices on the conduct of licensing and regulatory functions over hospitals, clinics and other health facilities.

(4) National Quarantine Office which shall formulate and implement quarantine laws and regulations and, through its field offices, exercise supervision over rat-proof zones in designated international ports and airports and over medical examination of aliens for immigration purposes.