QC schools to keep students’ health data

All public elementary and high schools in Quezon City will soon serve as repositories of their students’ medical and dental records, according to a newly approved ordinance.

Mayor Herbert Bautista signed into law on March 20 the ordinance designating schools as health database collection centers for more than 400,000 students in the city’s public school system.

An initial budget of P1 million from the office of the city mayor was allocated to launch the initiative in 99 public elementary schools and 48 public high schools.

While in the schools’ safekeeping, the records will be treated as confidential. “The records custodian, faculty member or any school staff member who divulges the records without the consent of the parents or an order from a competent authority shall be held administratively liable,” the ordinance said.

The council observed that while the local division of city schools and the health department had been regularly conducting medical and dental examinations on students, they have no existing record-keeping system to monitor their health condition.

Aside from serving as bases for the diagnosis and treatment of patients, “in extreme cases, these records can be used to identify persons (killed in fires) who are burned beyond recognition.”

The school doctor and dentist or medical personnel from the city schools division, city health department or from private hospitals or clinics are to administer, within six months after enrollment, the required medical and dental tests conducted on students in the presence of their parents or guardians.

A student is exempted when his parent or guardian objects to the medical and dental tests due to their religious beliefs.

The doctor and dentist who conducted the medical and dental examinations should submit the results to the school principal. They are also tasked to update the students’ health records every two years.

According to the measure, the school principal is to set up the database collection and safekeeping system and may designate a custodian for the students’ medical and dental records.

The division of city schools as well as the local health and legal departments were tapped to draft the implementing rules and regulations for the ordinance which is to take effect 15 days after it is published in a newspaper of general circulation.

All public elementary and high schools in Quezon City will soon serve as repositories of their students’ medical and dental records, according to a newly approved ordinance.