An Act to Amend Act Numbered Thirty-Nine Hundred and Sixty-One, Entitled, "An Act to Provide Free Emergency Medical Treatment for Employees and Laborers of Commercial, Industrial, and Agricultural Establishments, in Certain Cases Provide Penalties for the Violation Hereof, and for Other Purposes"

REPUBLIC ACT No. 46

An Act to Amend Act Numbered Thirty-Nine Hundred and Sixty-One, Entitled, "An Act to Provide Free Emergency Medical Treatment for Employees and Laborers of Commercial, Industrial, and Agricultural Establishments, in Certain Cases Provide Penalties for the Violation Hereof, and for Other Purposes"

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:

Section 1. Subsections (a) and (c) of section one and section two of Act Numbered Thirty-nine hundred and sixty-one, as amended by Commonwealth Act Numbered Three hundred and twenty-four, are hereby further amended to read as follows:

Section 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: October 3, 1946

"(a) If the number of permanent employees and laborers is not less than thirty nor more than two hundred, the owner, lessee or operator shall keep a stock of emergency medicines under the charge of a nurse, for the use of his employees and laborers, except in cases when owing to the existence in the place at a distance not greater than one kilometer from the commercial, industrial or agricultural establishment of a public dispensary furnishing medicine free of charge to poor applicants or of a pharmacy where the employer can buy the same for the purposes of this Act, in which case it shall be the duty of the employer to buy in such pharmacy the medicine required for the emergency aid provided in this Act, it shall not be necessary to do so, in the discretion of the Secretary of Labor or his authorized representative.

"(c) When the number of employees and laborers exceeds three hundred, the owner, lessee, or operator, in addition to keeping a stock of medicines and employing the services of a physician for the purpose specified in the preceding two subsections, shall maintain an infirmary or emergency hospital of sufficient capacity of one bed for each one hundred employees and laborers, except where this shall be unnecessary because of the existence of a hospital in the place, at a distance not greater than two kilometers from the commercial, industrial, or agricultural establishment. In such cases the owner, lessee, or operator may enter into an agreement with said hospital to reserve the necessary number of beds for the purposes specified in this subsection: Provided, That the number of beds may be increased to three for each two hundred laborers and employees, according to the nature of the establishment, in the discretion of the Secretary of Labor.

"Sec. 2. The Secretary of Labor or his authorized representative shall prescribe the kinds and quantities of the medicines mentioned in subsections (a) and (b) of the preceding section, and the conditions of the infirmary or hospital mentioned in subsection (c) of said section; and shall see to the enforcement of this Act, inspecting the commercial, industrial, and agricultural establishments subject to the provisions of this Act at intervals of not more than six months, and shall also issue instructions and from time to time promulgate such rules and regulations as he may deem advisable for properly carrying out the purposes of this Act. The medicines, material, and equipment required by this Act may be purchased or requisitioned from the Bureau of Supply, through the Secretary of Labor, and shall in this case be furnished at the same prices that the Government would have to pay for the same."