Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

0.8 AUG 2013. \
SIXTEENTH CONGRESS 2 |
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNO._ 2357

Introduced by Representative Rosenda Ann Ocampo.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to establish the National Geriatric Hospital which will provide a full
range of health care services, including primary care, wellness services, and behavioral
health care to the elderly population of the country.

Section 11, Article XII! of the 1987 Constitution provides, in part, that “The State shall
adopt an integral and comprehensive approach to health development which shall
endeavour to make essential goods, health and other social services available to all the
people at affordable cost. There shall be priority for the needs of the underprivileged sick,
elderly, disabled, women, and children.”

Consistent with this constitutional provision, this bill aims to establish the National Geriatric
Hospital, a specialized hospital which will cater to the elderly or senior citizens of the country. It will
be the first of its kind in the country, and its establishment long overdue with the continuing
increase in our country’s population of people aged sixty and above. The National Geriatric Hospital
will ensure the availability and accessibility of medical services for the elderly. Also, the facility will
enable our elderly population who are most vulnerable to diseases to avail of much needed
specialized health care. As a tribute to our country’s elderly citizens, having served and contributed
to the society in the prime of their life, it is only fitting to establish a hospital which primarily
provides geriatric health services.

In view of forgoing considerations, approval of this bill is earnestly sought.



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO, 2397

Introduced by Representative Rosenda Ann Ocampo.

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING THE NATIONAL GERIATRIC HOSPITAL, DEFINING ITS OBJECTIVES, POWERS
AND FUNCTIONS, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

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

SECTION 1. Declaration of Policy. ~ Itis hereby declared the policy of the State to protect and
promote the right to health to the elderly by ensuring that health services are available and
accessible to them through the establishment of a specialized hospital that will cater to their medical

needs.

SECTION 2. Definition of Termss, - As used in this Act:

a) Senior citizen or elderly refers to any Filipino citizen who is at least sixty (60) years old;
b) Geriatrics refers to the branch of medical science devoted to the study of the biological
and physical changes and the diseases of ald age;

¢) Geriatric health services refer to the medical services or intervention pri

ided by a

geriatrician:

d) Geriatrician refers to a medical doctor who has passed the necessary training and
examination, and specializes in the field of geriatrics;

e) Integrated delivery of geriatric health services refer to hospital and community-based
medical and psycho-social services provided to senior citizens by a multi-disciplinary

team.


SECTION 3. National Geriatric Hospital. — The National Geriatric Hospital (NGH), a
government-owned and controlled, is hereby established for the primary benefit of senior citizens of
the elderly. The NGH shall be located in San Miguel, Manila and shall have a bed capacity of at least
fifty (50).

SECTION 4. Purposes and Objectives. - The NGH shall have the following purposes and

objectives:

a) Equip, maintain, administer and operate an integrated medical institution which shall
specialize in geriatric health services;

b) Promote medical and scientific research relative to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment,
care, rehabilitation and relief of disease of the elderly;

©) Finance, sponsor, hold or participate in congresses, conventions, conferences, seminars,
workshops and training programs on geriatric health services or related fields in the
Philippines and abroad;

d) Encourage and assist in the education and training of physicians, nurses, health officers,

social workers and other medical and technical personnel in the practical and scie!
implementation of health services to the elderly; and

e) Coordinate the various efforts and activities of other government agencies and local
government units for the purpose of achieving a more effective approach to the delivery

of geriatric health services.

SECTION 5. Scope of Services. Consistent with its purposes and objectives, the NGH shall

provide the following services:

a) Hospital-based services to ensure the availability of medical facilities and equipment
necessary to provide long term and palliative services with its wards divided into the
following: dementia, long term care, palliative care, respite care, and other units as may
be deemed necessary;

b) Community-based services to develop and implement community-based program in
partnership with local government units, conduct research and external resource
outsourcing to implement community-based integrated geriatric health services, and

conduct training necessary for the social functioning of senior citizens and their families,

linary team approaches;


°)

a)

Education programs to pursue excellence and the highest level of practice in the
specialized field of geriatrics and other related fields, conduct post-graduate training and
short-term courses for medical doctors and allied medical professionals;

Program development and research to develop cutting edge research and programs to

combat diseases of old age and to improve health care service for the elderly.

SECTION 6. Board of Trustees. — The NGH shall be administered by a Board of Trustees,

hereinafter referred to as the Board, to be composed of the following:

a)

b)

4)

e)

f)
8)

h)

Secretary of Health, as chairperson;
Secretary of Social Welfare and Development, as vice-chairperson;
Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography;
Chairperson of the House Committee on Health;

nN of Senior Citizens Association of the

Three representatives from the Feder:

pines;

President of the Philippine College of Geriatric Medicine;

‘Three representatives from the Philippine Medical Association with expertise in the field
of Geriatrics or Gerontology;

‘Two representatives from the academe with the expertise in the field of Geriatrics or
Gerontology; and

Two representatives from non-government organizations which maybe regional or
national in scope, mainly providing services for senior citizens, duly registered with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA),
or any appropriate government regulatory body, and with programs accredited by the

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), as members.

The appointive Members of the Board of Trustees shall be appointed by the President of the

Philippines and shall serve for a term of three years.

All members shall serve without compensation other than actual and necessary expenses, in

accordance with the existing laws, policies, and rules and regulations on the matter, incurred either

for attendance in meetings of the Board or upon official business authorized by a resolution of the

Board.


SECTION 7. Powers and Functions. ~ The Board shall have the following powers and

functions in addition to their general powers of administration:

a) Formulate and adopt the by-laws, rules and regulations, policies, guidelines and
procedures consistent with law and the provisions of this Act to govern the
administration and operations of the NGH;

b) Formulate and develop programs for the enhancement of healthcare services for the
elderly, including the training of NGH personnel and resident doctors;

¢) Enter into such agreements and arrangements with other medical institutions, domestic
or foreign, as may be necessary in attaining the purposes and objectives of the NGH;

d) Receive in trust legacies, gifts and donations or real and personal property of all kinds
and to administer the same for the benefit of the NGH, in accordance with the directions
and instructions of the donor, and in default thereof, in such manner as the Board of

Trustees may,

's discretion, determine;

) Receive and appropriate to the ends specified by law such sums as may be provided by
law for the support of the NGH; and

f) Perform all such other acts and things as are or may be necessary for or incidental to the

accomplishment of the objectives of the NGH.

SECTION 8. Organizational Structure and Staffing Pattern. - The Board shall determine the
organizational structure and staffing pattern of the NGH subject to the evaluation by the Civil Service
Commission and of the Organization Position Classification and Compensation Bureau of the
Department of Budget and Management. The Board may reorganize said structure, modify the

staffing pattern and create or abolish divisions, sections or units in the NGH.

SECTION 9. Appointment by the Board. ~ The Board shall have the authority to appoint,
promote, transfer, remove, suspend or otherwise discipline the officers or employees of the NGH
upon the recommendation of the Executive Director, subject to Civil Service Laws, rules and

regulations.


SECTION 10. Executive Director. - The NGH shall be headed by an Executive Director who

shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines upon the recommendation of the Board of

Trustees.

‘The Executive Director shall exercise the following powers and functions:

a) Execute policies, guidelines and programs approved by the Board, and be responsible for

the efficient discharge of management and operational functions;

b) Submit for the consideration and approval of the Board proposed measures, policies,
guidelines and programs as may be deemed necessary or proper for the effective
implementation of the purposes and objectives of this Act;

©) Direct and supervise the management, operation and administration of the NGH, and
may delegate this power and any or some of his administrative responsibilities and
duties to the other officers of the NGH;

d) Execute, on behalf of the Board, all contracts and agreements which the latter may
enter into, and to execute, accomplish and deliver any and all documents relative to
such contracts and agreements;

e) Represent the NGH in all dealings with other offices, agencies and instrumentalities of
the government, and all other persons or entities, whether domestic or foreign and
whether government or private;

f) Recommend to the Board the appointment, promotion, transfer, dismissal, and
suspension of the officers and employees of the NGH; and

8) Exercise such other powers and perform such duties as may be vested or reposed by the

Board.

SECTION 11. Program for Indigents. ~ The Board shall ensure that the NGH shall adopt and
enforce a program for indigents. The number of beds allocated for the indigent patients shall not be

less that forty percent (40%) of the total number of hospital beds.

SECTION 12, Tax Exemptions and Other Privileges. - The provision of any general or special
law to the contrary notwithstanding, all donations, grants, contributions, gifts, endowments
received by the NGH pursuant hereto, shall be exempt from income, gift and all other kinds of taxes,
and shall be further considered as allowable deductions from the gross income of the donor, in

accordance with the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended.


‘The NGH is hereby declared from exempt all income and all other internal revenue taxes,
tariff and customs duties and all other kinds of taxes, fees, charges and assessments levied by the
government and its political subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities.

The NGH may request and receive assistance from the different agencies, bureaus, offices or

instrumentalities of the government, including the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and the

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation in pursuit of its purposes and objectives.

SECTION 13, Annual Report. ~The NGH shall submit an annual report to the President of the
Philippines, the Senate Committee on Health and Demography and the House Committee on Health,
on its activities, accomplishments and recommendations to better improve the delivery of geriatric

health services.

Section 14. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The Secretary of Health, in coordination
with the Secretary of Social Welfare and Development and the Secretary of Budget and
Management, shall promulgate such rules and regulations necessary for the effective

implementation of this Act.

SECTION 15. Appropriations. — The amount of Two Hundred Fifty Million pesos
(Php250,000,000.00) is hereby appropriated for the initial operation and maintenance of the NGH.
Thereafter, such sum as may be necessary for the continued operation of the NGH shall be included

in the annual General Appropriations Act.
SECTION 16. Repealing Clause. ~ All laws, decrees, orders, proclamations, rules and
regulations, or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed, amended, or

modified accordingly.

SECTION 17. Effectivity Clause. ~ This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication

in the Official Gazette or in two (2) national newspapers of national circulation.

Approved,