SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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First Regular Session 
)
SENATE
S.B. No. 1156
of the JS^frictarij
•16 
SEP 19 
P3 5 7
HI-
Introduced by Senator SONNY ANGARA
AN ACT TO
ENHANCE AND SUSTAIN THE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE (UHC) BY 
ESTABLISHING A MEDICAL RESIDENCY EXPANSION TRAINING PROGRAM, 
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), some 58.2 percent of 
deaths recorded in 2013 were considered “unattended." That is, close to 3 out of 5 
Filipinos who passed away that year did so without seeing a doctor, nurse or any other 
allied health professional.
This bolsters what groups, such as the Coalition of Primary Care and the 
Philippine College of Physicians, have said in 2014 about the country “being in a midst 
of a healthcare crisis," born out of a lack or a maldistribution of doctors and healthcare 
professionals. Such a problem is only exacerbated by the lure of better opportunities 
abroad, leading to a brain drain that hampers the proper dispensation of healthcare 
services across the country.
Decades ago, the Department of Health (DOH) started implementing the 
“Doctors to the Barrios” (DTTB) Program, which deploys general medical practitioners— 
who are looking for alternative venues for their medical residency—to far-flung 
communities—who, more often than not, are in dire need of healthcare services.
The DTTB program enjoyed some measure of success, particularly in bridging 
the gaps in healthcare delivery. However, with the perennial problems arising from lack 
of medical facilities and unattractive compensation packages, there are still several 
areas where no doctors are available at present.
Contrast this with the healthcare system in Cuba—their medicina general integral 
(MGI) system—where every community is assigned a doctor-nurse team, who live in the 
community they are meant to treat. 
Some say this requirement—healthcare 
professionals actually being neighbors to their patients—is the key innovation of Cuba’s 
MGI system and the primary factor to its success and effectiveness. 
For instance.


Cubans reportedly enjoy life expectancies at par with their North American counterparts 
in the USA, but spend only a fraction (as little as 4 percent by some estimates)1.
Based on lessons learned from Cuba and other appropriate examples, the 
foregoing measure seeks to bridge key manpower gaps in the Philippine healthcare 
system, broaden the delivery of healthcare services to more Filipinos in poor and 
remote barangays nationwide, and provide residency training and Job opportunities to 
new medical doctors.
The proposed bill seeks to establish a Medical Residency Expansion Training 
Program where new medical doctors from different medical institutions shall be 
deployed in DOH indicative hospitals covering catchment areas nationwide. A Medical 
Residency Training Board (MRTB) shall be created to facilitate the effective 
implementation of this proposed measure.
Healthcare is vital to the long-term prosperity of the nation, making improvements 
to our current system all the more critical and urgent. Hence, the swift passage of the 
foregoing measure is earnestly sought.
SONNY ANGARA
1 See Fitz, Don. "Why Is Cuba's Health Care System The Best Model For Poor Countries?" Uploaded on July 12, 2012. Accessible 
via httD://mrzine.monthlvreview.orQ/2012/filz071212.html. [Accessed on September 14, 2016].


SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
)
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
)
First Regular Session 
)
SENATE
S.B. No. 1156
of
*16 
SEP 19 
P3 5.7
Rl rj jv r ^y:_^
Introduced by Senator SONNY ANGARA
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AN ACT TO
ENHANCE AND SUSTAIN THE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE (UHC) BY 
ESTABLISHING A MEDICAL RESIDENCY EXPANSION TRAINING PROGRAM, 
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
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 “Enhanced and Sustained 
Universal Health Care Act of 2016“ or the “ENSURE Health 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. Towards this end, there is a need to enhance and sustain the Universal Health 
Care (UHC) by establishing a medical training and service program wherein new 
medical doctors from different medical institutions shall be deployed nationwide to 
provide health services while undergoing residency training.
SEC. 3. The Medical Residency Expansion Training Program. -  To ensure a 
continuing supply of trained medical specialists, including primary care specialists, in 
the countryside and provide training and work opportunities for new physicians, a 
Medical Residency Expansion Training Program, hereinafter referred to as the 
“Program” is hereby established.
SEC. 4. Creation of Residency Positions. — To effectively implement the UHC 
Program of the government and improve the quality and efficiency of the health service 
providers, there shall be created nine hundred (900) residency positions per year for 
three (3) consecutive years, until it reaches a total of 2,700 when the program is fully 
implemented. The positions shall be non-tenured and temporary plantilla positions in
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forty (40) large referral hospitals in the various Local Government Units (LGUs).
SEC. 5. Admission Requirements to the Program. -  Subject to the guidelines and 
standards as may be provided by the Board, graduates of Philippine medical institutions 
who had passed the Philippine Physicians Licensure Examination and who are 
physically and mentally fit may apply to the Program.
SEC. 6. The Contract. -  Upon admission to the Program, the trainee shall sign a three- 
year training and service contract. The contract shall, among others, mandate the 
trainee who has completed the three-year training under the Program to render one (1) 
year service for every year of training or a total of three (3) years in any government 
hospital of his/her choice. Subject to existing law, a trainee who shall fail to complete or 
finish the three-year training or shall fail to render the three (3) years required services, 
shall reimburse in favor of the government the total cost of training and salaries and 
benefits received during the said training.
SEC. 7. 
Incentives for Enrolment to the Program. -  Qualified applicants to the 
Program shall each receive an annual salary of Six Hundred Thousand Pesos 
(P600,000) and, upon completion of the Residency Training, they shall be allowed to 
practice in Department of Health (DOH) hospitals nationwide.
SEC. 8. Referral Hospitals for Residency Trainees. -  Qualified resident trainees 
shall be deployed to the following indicative hospitals with its corresponding catchment 
areas:
Indicative Hospitals
Catchment Area
llocos Regional Medical Center
llocos and Pangasinan
Region 1 Medical Center (MC)
Pangasinan
Cagayan Valley MC
Cagayan and Northern Isabela
Veteran’s Regional MC
Southern Isabela and Nueva Vizcava
Bataan General Hospital______________ Bataan and Zambales
Jose Lingad Memorial MC
Pampanga and Tarlac
Paulino Garcia Memorial MC
Nueva Ecija and Aurora
Batangas Regional
Batangas
Laguna Provincial
Laguna
Cavite Provincial
Cavite
Quezon Provincial
Quezon
Qspital ng Palawan
Palawan, Mindoro provinces, Romblon, 
Marinduque
Bicol Medical Center
Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur
Bicol Regional Hospital
Albay, Sorsogon and Masbate, 
Catanduanes
West Visayas MC
Panay provinces
Corazon Locsin Memorial MC
Negros Occidental


Negros Oriental Provincial
Negros Oriental
Vicente Sotto MC
Cebu
Gallares Memorial MC
Bohol and Siquijor
Eastern Visayas Regional Hospital
Leyte provinces and Eastern Samar
Samar Provincial Hospital
Northern and Western Samar
Zamboanga MC
Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur, 
Tawi Tawi, Sulu and Basilan
Zamboanga del Norte Provincial Hospital
Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga 
Sibugay
Bukidnon Hospital System
Bukidnon
Northern Mindanao MC
Misamis provinces, Camiquin
Cotabato Medical MC
Cotabato provinces
CARAGA Regional Hospital
Agusan provinces
Davao Regional Hospital
Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley, 
Davao Oriental
Davao Medical Center
Davao City and Davao del Sur
Adela Serra Ty Memorial Medical Center
Surigao provinces
Amai Pakpak Memorial Medical
Lanao provinces
Baguio Medical Center
Cordillera provinces
Las Pinas
NCR
Amang Rodriguez
NCR
Rizal Medical
NCR
Quirino
NCR
4 NCR LGU Hospitals
NCR
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SEC. 9. Distribution of Resident Trainees to Hospitals and LGUs. -  Out of the total 
number of resident trainees, forty percent (40%) of which shall serve as primary care 
doctors, who shall be equally assigned in the hospitals and in the municipalities on 
rotation basis; the remaining sixty percent (60%) shall be distributed to indicative 
hospital departments of surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, 
pediatrics, anesthesia, orthopedics, and other specialties such as cardiology, ENT and 
ophthalmology. The distribution of residents to the said specialties shall be adjusted 
every three (3) years based on DOH’s survey of needs.
SEC. 10. Creation of a Medical Residency Training Board (MRTB). -  To ensure the 
quality of medical residency training as prescribed in the Program, there shall be 
created a Medical Residency Training Board herein after referred to as the “Board”.
SEC. 11. Powers and Functions of the Board. -  The Board shall have the following 
powers and functions;
a) Formulate policies and set guidelines and standards for the effective 
implementation of the Program;
b) Evaluate the performance of the medical resident trainees and determine 
whether they have satisfactorily completed the training;
c) Coordinate with the medical associations and societies on various special


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fields of specialization to provide the necessary assistance to the 
Program;
d) Develop and ensure implementation of policies that will provide 
competitive compensation and benefits for medical residents;
e) Provide a database of medical resident trainees and medical providers 
enrolled in the Program;
f) Monitor the progress of the Medical Residency Program and prescribe 
remedial measures to address any training deficiencies;
g) Provide mechanisms that shall promote the equitable distribution of 
medical resident trainees to the various parts of the country; and,
h) Provide such other related functions as may be necessary to carry out its 
responsibilities.
SEC. 12. Composition of the Board. -  The Board shall be headed by the Secretary of 
the Department of Health, as Chairperson, and the Assistant Secretary of DOH, as Vice 
Chairperson, and representatives each from the following government agencies and 
related medical specialty Boards, as members:
a) Professional Regulations Commission (PRC);
b) Civil Service Commission (CSC);
c) Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG);
d) Philippine Medical Association (PMA) - Specialty Divisions and Specialty 
Societies; and,
e) Philippine Hospital Association (PHA).
SEC. 13. Appropriations. -  For the initial implementation of this Act, there is hereby 
authorized to be created a fund to be derived from the budget of the DOH, not otherwise 
appropriated. Thereafter, said fund shall be included in the Annual Budget of the DOH.
SEC. 14. Implementing Rules and Regulations. -  The DOH, in coordination with the 
CSC, PRC, DILG and the PMA, shall formulate the necessary rules and regulations to 
effectively implement the provisions of this Act within sixty (60) days from the effectivity 
of this Act.
SEC. 15. Separability Clause. -  If any provision of this Act, or any part thereof be 
declared invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining provisions not affected thereby shall 
continue in full force and effect.


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SEC. 16. Repealing Clause. -  All laws, presidential decrees, proclamations, executive 
orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act 
are hereby repealed, modified or amended accordingly.
SEC. 17. Effectivity. -  This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following its 
complete publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.
Approved,