Republic Act No. 4226

This Act shall also be known as the Hospital Licensure Act.

No hospital, government or private, shall be constructed unless plans have been approved and construction permit issued by the licensing agency as defined in this Act.

No hospital shall operate or be opened to the public unless it shall have been registered and a license for its operation obtained from the licensing agency provided in this Act.

For purposes of setting standards in hospital construction and operation, the Bureau of Medical Services in addition to its present duties shall act as the licensing agency. The Secretary of Health shall reorganize this Bureau to include a staff of hospital architects, hospital administrators, sanitary engineers and such personnel as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act without necessarily increasing the present personnel strength of this Bureau.

The Bureau of Medical Services, or the licensing agency shall have the following powers and duties:

a. To conduct an ocular survey of all existing hospitals in the Philippines, government or private, with a view to determine their fitness to operate considering their facilities and physical plant. b. To prescribe standard plans for government hospital plants in consultation with the Division of Architecture, Bureau of Public Works. c. To approve plans for hospital plants, government or private, and to issue permits or authority to construct hospitals in accordance with the provisions of this Act. d. To keep a permanent register of approved hospitals or those issued licenses to operate indicating the name of the hospital, address or location, type of hospital, name of the director or administrator, ownership, number of authorized beds and bassinets and such other pertinent data as may be necessary. e. To grant licenses for the operation and maintenance of hospitals or revoke the same in accordance with the provisions of this Act. f. To make periodic inspection of all hospitals so as to check compliance with rules and regulations legally promulgated or with the provisions of this Act and to make recommendations to directors or administrators of hospitals for the correction of defects found during such inspections. g. To publish yearly a list of all approved hospitals indicating the name, location, type, authorized beds, and name of the director or administrator. h. To submit yearly reports to the Secretary of Health, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate and the chairmen and members of the Committees on Health of both Houses of Congress, such reports to include a list of approved hospitals indicating the name of the hospital, location, bed capacity and name of the director or administrator and make recommendations on hospital needs or requirements for hospital service in certain communities that do not enjoy such hospital services.

Application for a permit to construct a hospital shall be submitted to the Office of the Director, Bureau of Medical Services in a form prescribed by the latter and accompanied by a plan of the hospital plant proposed to be constructed. The application shall state the name of the hospital, ownership, number of beds proposed to be operated, location and type of hospital to be constructed.

In order that a permit to construct a hospital can be issued the hospital plan shall provide sufficient bed space for the hospital bed capacity proposed, a laboratory room, an operating room, including work rooms for sterilization, anesthesia preparation, etc., an X-ray or radiology room, pharmacy, dispensary or out-patient department, delivery room, isolation rooms, autopsy room or morgue, sufficient quarters for residents, nurses, attendants and helpers and sufficient number of toilet facilities.

Wards shall be constructed such that segregation of the sexes is observed and as far as practicable classified as to the type of cases to be confined.

Application for registration of a hospital and for the issuance of a license for its operation and maintenance shall be filed with the Bureau of Medical Services on a form prescribed by it. Registration may be made and license issued upon compliance with the provisions of Section eight hereof and the rules and regulations prescribed by the licensing agency pursuant to the provisions of this Act.

Permit to construct a hospital or a major portion thereof and license to operate and maintain the same shall be issued by the licensing agency only after a representative of the licensing agency has conducted an ocular inspection and certified that the applicant has satisfactorily complied with requisites prescribed in this Act. The license to operate and maintain a hospital shall be renewed every year upon payment of the prescribed fees.

The licensing agency may suspend or revoke a license already issued for any of the following grounds:

Any person, association, corporation, or any other private entity who has been refused a license to operate and maintain a hospital or whose license for such hospital has been suspended or revoked shall be entitled to an administrative hearing to be conducted by the Secretary of Health and his two undersecretaries to determine the justifiability of such denial, suspension or revocation of the license: Provided, That the licensee may resort to the courts, as in other cases provided by law.

Separate licenses shall be required for hospitals or branches thereof maintained in separate premises, even though they are operated under the same management: Provided, However, That separate licenses shall not be required for separate buildings in the same compound: Provided, further, That permits for construction or alteration of buildings within the same compound shall also be secured from the licensing agency to determine compliance with standards and requirements herein authorized.

License for the operation of hospitals shall not be transferable. The licensing agency shall be notified of any change in ownership, change of name of the hospital, and transfer of location and in the latter case, an application for a new license should be submitted.

The Bureau of Medical Services acting as a licensing agency and subject to the approval of the Secretary of Health, shall promulgate rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this Act.

The licensing agency shall study and adopt a system of classifying hospitals in the Philippines as to:

Each applicant for a permit to construct a hospital shall pay the amount of five pesos as permit fee. A registration fee of five pesos and an annual license fee of ten pesos shall likewise be collected for each hospital and for each approved license: Provided, That a government hospital shall be exempt from the payment of such fees. The amount herein collected shall be officially receipted by the licensing agency and shall constitute as a revolving fund for the use of the licensing agency.

Any person, partnership, association, or corporation who establishes, operates, conducts, manages or maintains a hospital or hospital clinic within the meaning of this Act without first obtaining a license as provided for in this Act or violates any provision hereof shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be liable to a fine of not more than five hundred pesos for the first offense and not more than one thousand pesos for each subsequent offense, and each day that the hospital shall operate after the first conviction shall be considered a subsequent offense.

Any law or laws or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.