P.R. Laws tit. 24, § 3004
The General Health Council is hereby created as an advisory body for the planning, coordination, revision and evaluation of the health services in Puerto Rico within the public as well as the private sectors, to advise the Secretary of Health in matters concerning the public policy of that Department; draft recommendations with regard to its implementation, conduct studies on its own initiative or by request regarding all those matters within its competence and serve as an effective mechanism to achieve the positive interaction of the main components of the health system.
This body shall be constituted by thirty-five members to be appointed by the Governor as follows:
(a) Eleven (11) members shall be appointed directly by the Governor, seven of which shall represent the health services purveyors sector, as follows: one (1) physician, one (1) health services administrator, one (1) health educator, one (1) dentist, one (1) nursing professional, one (1) purveyor of mental health services, and one (1) purveyor of addiction services. The four (4) remaining members shall represent the consumers, among whom one (1) shall represent the labor sector, and the other, the financial sector.
(b) Fourteen (14) ex officio members who shall be the Secretary of the Family, the Administrator of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Corrections Administrator, the Administrator of Juvenile Institutions, the Director of the Office of Youth Affairs, the Rector of the Medical Sciences Campus, the Administrator of the State Insurance Fund, the Director of the Puerto Rico Medical Services Administration, the Secretary of Education, the Executive Director of the Office for the Affairs of the Elderly, the Chairperson of the Advisory Council on the Affairs of the Elderly, the Executive Director of the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration, the Insurance Commissioner and the Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs.
(c) Ten (10) members shall be appointed from a list of candidates from the purveyors and consumers sector, to be submitted to the Governor by organized purveyors and consumers groups organized in the six (6) established health regions. Among these groups, the Department that represents Puerto Rico in the Health Systems Agency—H.S.A., pursuant to U.S. P.L. 93-641, shall have priority. Said list shall have an equal proportion of purveyors and consumers with a minimum of five (5) candidates from each of the sub-areas that comprise said federal agency.
The Governor shall choose the members of the Council from among the candidates that are submitted to him, trying to have the representation of the mayors; the various geographic areas; various ages, sexes and socioeconomic levels; as well as the various professional organizations related to Health, included in the Council. At the time of their appointment, the members of the Council shall be citizens of the United States of America and residents of Puerto Rico, and shall be committed to the public health policy and principles framed in this Act, shall respect the criteria of others, and shall be willing to accept the consensus of the majority. The Council members who represent health professions shall be directly and actively exercising their professions at the time of their appointment, and shall be appointed by the Governor, in consultation with the corresponding legally-constituted professional organizations which represent the largest number of members of professions with a regular license to practice said profession.
Every Council member appointed by the Governor shall hold office for a term of four (4) years, until his/her successor takes office. Members shall not be appointed for more than two (2) consecutive terms. The members of the Council shall elect a President from among themselves, at a meeting called by the Secretary of Health for such purpose.
The Governor, on his own initiative, or by request of the Council, may remove any member of the Council in case of neglect or negligence in the performance of his/her duties, unjustified absence to more than three consecutive meetings of the Council, or any other just cause, after due process and hearing.
Council members, with the exception of the government officials, shall receive fifty dollars ($50) as per diems for every day they attend meetings or are on official business of the Council.
All the Council members shall be entitled to reimbursement of all transportation expenses incurred in the performance of their functions, subject to applicable regulations of the Department of the Treasury.
When the office of the President becomes vacant, or during his/her temporary absence, the member with most seniority shall perform the functions of the President until the vacancy is filled or the temporary absence has ended. If there are more than one of the members with the same seniority, the Council members shall select the President pro-tempore from among them.
If a vacancy occurs among the Council members, the governor shall fill said vacancy within the term of sixty (60) days from the date said vacancy occurred and for the remainder of the term of the member who caused the vacancy.
History —June 23, 1976, No. 11, p. 672, § 4; June 29, 1977, No. 124, p. 338, § 4; July 24, 1985, No. 16, p. 711, § 2; Aug. 7, 1993, No. 67, § 23; Aug. 31, 2000, No. 262, § 1, eff. 90 days after Aug. 31, 2000.