Section 1
SECTION 1. Any province can receive aid from the Philippine Government from the fund that may be appropriated for the purpose of the construction, equipment, operation, and maintenance of a provincial hospital, whenever the province concerned shall contribute a sum of not less than thirty per cent of the total cost of the construction and equipment of the hospital and its dependencies if a first-class province, not less than twenty per cent if a second-class province and not less than ten per cent in the case of other provinces, which money it may either appropriate out of its own funds or raise by subscription on the part of the municipalities concerned or of private citizens, or in any other manner which shall not be a direct or indirect aid on the part of the National Government: Provided, That upon certification of the Director of Health, the establishment of a hospital in a specified province is greatly needed, and if the Secretary of Finance certifies that the financial condition of the province concerned will not permit the contribution as provided hereof, such contributions may be lowered in the amount recommended by said Secretary or dispensed with, depending upon the financial condition of the province concerned: Provided, further, That the National aid for the operation and maintenance of the hospital authorized herein shall be fifty per cent of the total cost of such operation and maintenance for the first year and shall be decreased by two and one-half per cent every year so that said aid shall automatically be discontinued at the end of the twentieth year: Provided, further, That the operation and maintenance of the hospitals built under the certification of the Department of Finance will receive the necessary amount of national aid that may be needed for the operation and maintenance of said hospitals to supplement the provincial and municipal contributions as provided in this Act, until such time that the Secretary of Finance will certify that the National aid for the operation and maintenance of the hospital so established can be decreased in proportion other than those provided therein. And provided, finally, That any chartered city or subprovince desiring to construct, equip, operate, and maintain a hospital in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be considered as a province for the purposes hereof.