Section 1
SECTION 1. Section 13 of Republic Act Numbered Sixty One Hundred Eleven otherwise known as the "Philippine Medical Care Act of 1969" is hereby amended to read as follows: "Under such rules, regulations and/or conditions as the SSS and GSIS may prescribe, subject to the approval of the Commission, an employee who is confined in a hospital on account of sickness or bodily injury requiring hospitalization, or is operated on for sterilization, shall be entitled to confinement not exceeding forty-five days annually to: (a) Room and board expense benefit for each day of confinement in a hospital not exceeding twelve pesos (P12.00) a day; and (b) Special charge expense benefit for charges necessary for the care of the employee, such as laboratory examination fees, drug, x-ray and the like, not to exceed one hundred fifty pesos. (As amended by Presidential Decree No. 273). For drugs and medicines that maybe essential under this sub-section, the employee shall have the option to secure the same from either the hospital pharmacy wherein he is confined or from any retail drugstore of his own choice, subject only to the rules and regulations or as provided for in Section 18 hereof."