R069 - Recomendación sobre la asistencia médica, 1944 (núm. 69)

Whereas the Atlantic Charter contemplates the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing for all improved labour standards, economic advancement and social security; and

Whereas the Conference of the International Labour Organisation, by a Resolution adopted on 5 November 1941, endorsed this principle of the Atlantic Charter and pledged the full co-operation of the International Labour Organisation in its implementation; and

Whereas the availability of adequate medical care is an essential element in social security; and

Whereas the International Labour Organisation has promoted the development of medical care services--

by the inclusion of requirements relating to medical care in the Workmen's Compensation (Accidents) Convention, 1925, and the Sickness Insurance (Industry, etc.) and (Agriculture) Conventions, 1927,

by the communication to the Members of the Organisation by the Governing Body of the conclusions of meetings of experts relating to public health and health insurance in periods of economic depression, the economical administration of medical and pharmaceutical benefits under sickness insurance schemes, and guiding principles for curative and preventive action by invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance,

by the adoption by the First and Second Labour Conferences of American States of the Resolutions constituting the Inter-American Social Insurance Code, by the participation of a delegation of the Governing Body in the First Inter-American Conference on Social Security which adopted the Declaration of Santiago de Chile, and by the approval by the Governing Body of the Statute of the Inter-American Conference on Social Security, established as a permanent agency of co-operation between social security administrations and institutions acting in concert with the International Labour Office, and

by the participation of the International Labour Office in an advisory capacity in the framing of social insurance schemes in a number of countries and by other measures; and

Whereas some Members have not taken such steps as are within their competence to improve the health of the people by the extension of medical facilities, the development of public health programmes, the spread of health education, and the improvement of nutrition and housing, although their need in that respect is greatest, and it is highly desirable that such Members take all steps as soon as possible to reach the international minimum standards and to develop these standards; and

Whereas it is now desirable to take further steps for the improvement and unification of medical care services, the extension of such services to all workers and their families, including rural populations and the self-employed, and the elimination of inequitable anomalies, without prejudice to the right of any beneficiary of the medical care service who so desires to arrange privately at his own expense for medical care; and

Whereas the formulation of certain general principles which should be followed by Members of the Organisation in developing their medical care services along these lines will contribute to this end;

The Conference recommends the Members of the Organisation to apply the following principles, as rapidly as national conditions allow, in developing their medical care services with a view to the implementation of the fifth principle of the Atlantic Charter, and to report to the International Labour Office, as requested by the Governing Body, concerning the measures taken to give effect to these principles:

I. General

Essential Features of a Medical Care Service

1. 1. A medical care service should meet the need of the individual for care by members of the medical and allied professions and for such other facilities as are provided at medical institutions--
   • (a) with a view to restoring the individual's health, preventing the further development of disease and alleviating suffering, when he is afflicted by ill health (curative care); and
   • (b) with a view to protecting and improving his health (preventive care).
2. 2. The nature and extent of the care provided by the service should be defined by law.
3. 3. The authorities or bodies responsible for the administration of the service should provide medical care for its beneficiaries by securing the services of members of the medical and allied professions and by arranging for hospital and other institutional services.
4. 4. The cost of the service should be met collectively by regular periodical payments which may take the form of social insurance contributions or of taxes, or of both.

Forms of Medical Care Service

1. 5. Medical care should be provided either through a social insurance medical care service with supplementary provision by way of social assistance to meet the requirements of needy persons not yet covered by social insurance, or through a public medical care service.
2. 6. Where medical care is provided through a social insurance medical care service--
   • (a) every insured contributor, the dependent wife or husband and dependent children of every such contributor, such other dependants as may be prescribed by national laws or regulations, and every other person insured by virtue of contributions paid on his behalf, should be entitled to all care provided by the service;
   • (b) care for persons not yet insured should be provided by way of social assistance if they are unable to obtain it at their own expense; and
   • (c) the service should be financed by contributions from insured persons, from their employers, and by subsidies from public funds.
3. 7. Where medical care is provided through a public medical care service--
   • (a) every member of the community should be entitled to all care provided by the service;
   • (b) the service should be financed out of funds raised either by a progressive tax specifically imposed for the purpose of financing the medical care service or of financing all health services, or from general revenue.

II. Persons Covered

Complete Coverage

1. 8. The medical care service should cover all members of the community, whether or not they are gainfully occupied.
2. 9. Where the service is limited to a section of the population or to a specified area, or where the contributory mechanism already exists for other branches of social insurance and it is possible ultimately to bring under the insurance scheme the whole or the majority of the population, social insurance may be appropriate.
3. 10. Where the whole of the population is to be covered by the service and it is desired to integrate medical care with general health services, a public service may be appropriate.

Coverage Through a Social Insurance Medical Care Service

1. 11. Where medical care is provided through a social insurance medical care service, all members of the community should have the right to care as insured persons or, pending their inclusion in the scope of insurance, should have the right to receive care at the expense of the competent authority when unable to provide it for themselves.
2. 12. All adult members of the community (that is to say, all persons other than children as defined in Paragraph 15) should be required to pay insurance contributions if their income is not below the subsistence level. The dependent wife or husband of a contributor should be insured in virtue of the contribution of her or his breadwinner, without any addition on that account.
3. 13. Other adults who prove that their income is below the subsistence level, including indigents, should be entitled to care as insured persons, the contribution being paid on their behalf by the competent authority. Rules defining the subsistence level in each country should be laid down by the competent authority.
4. 14. If and so long as adults unable to pay a contribution are not insured as provided for in Paragraph 13, they should receive care at the expense of the competent authority.
5. 15. All children (that is to say, all persons who are under the age of sixteen years, or such higher age as may be prescribed, or who are dependent on others for regular support while continuing their general or vocational education) should be insured in virtue of the contributions paid by or on behalf of adult insured persons in general, and no additional contribution should be payable on their behalf by their parents or guardians.
6. 16. If and so long as children are not insured as provided for in Paragraph 15, because the service does not yet extend to the whole population, they should be insured in virtue of the contribution paid by or on behalf of their father or mother without any additional contribution being payable on their behalf. Children for whom medical care is not so provided should, in case of need, receive it at the expense of the competent authority.
7. 17. Where any person is insured under a scheme of social insurance for cash benefits or is receiving benefit under such a scheme, he and his qualified dependants, as defined in Paragraph 6, should also be insured under the medical care service.

Coverage Through a Public Medical Care Service

1. 18. Where medical care is provided through a public medical care service, the provision of care should not depend on any qualifying conditions, such as payment of taxes or compliance with a means test, and all beneficiaries should have an equal right to the care provided.

III. The Provision of Medical Care and Its Co-ordination with General Health Services

Range of Service

1. 19. Complete preventive and curative care should be constantly available, rationally organised and, so far as possible, co-ordinated with general health services.

Constant Availability of Complete Care

1. 20. Complete preventive and curative care should be available at any time and place to all members of the community covered by the service, on the same conditions, without any hindrance or barrier of an administrative, financial or political nature, or otherwise unrelated to their health.
2. 21. The care afforded should comprise both general-practitioner and specialist out- and in-patient care, including domiciliary visiting; dental care; nursing care at home or in hospital or other medical institutions; the care given by qualified midwives and other maternity services at home or in hospital; maintenance in hospitals, convalescent homes, sanatoria or other medical institutions; so far as possible, the requisite dental, pharmaceutical and other medical or surgical supplies, including artificial limbs; and the care furnished by such other professions as may at any time be legally recognised as belonging to the allied professions.
3. 22. All care and supplies should be available at any time and without time limit, when and as long as they are needed, subject only to the doctor's judgment and to such reasonable limitations as may be imposed by the technical organisation of the service.
4. 23. Beneficiaries should be able to obtain care at the centres or offices provided, wherever they happen to be when the need arises, whether at their place of residence or elsewhere within the total area in which the service is available, irrespective of their membership in any particular insurance institution, arrears in contributions or of other factors unrelated to health.
5. 24. The administration of the medical care service should be unified for appropriate health areas sufficiently large for a self-contained and well-balanced service, and should be centrally supervised.
6. 25. Where the medical care service covers only a section of the population or is at present administered by different types of insurance institutions and authorities, the institutions and authorities concerned should provide care for their beneficiaries by securing collectively the services of members of the medical and allied professions, and by the joint establishment or maintenance of health centres and other medical institutions, pending the regional and national unification of the services.
7. 26. Arrangements should be made by the administration of the service for securing adequate hospital and other residential accommodation and care, either by contracts with existing public and approved private institutions, or by the establishment and maintenance of appropriate institutions.

Rational Organisation of Medical Care Service

1. 27. The optimum of medical care should be made readily available through an organisation that ensures the greatest possible economy and efficiency by the pooling of knowledge, staff, equipment and other resources and by close contact and collaboration among all participating members of the medical and allied professions and agencies.
2. 28. The wholehearted participation of the greatest possible number of members of the medical and allied professions is essential for the success of any national medical care service. The numbers of general practitioners, specialists, dentists, nurses and members of other professions within the service should be adapted to the distribution and the needs of the beneficiaries.
3. 29. Complete diagnostic and treatment facilities, including laboratory and X-ray services, should be available to the general practitioner, and all specialist advice and care, as well as nursing, maternity, pharmaceutical and other auxiliary services, and residential accommodation, should be at the disposal of the general practitioner for the use of his patients.
4. 30. Complete and up-to-date technical equipment for all branches of specialist treatment, including dental care, should be available, and specialists should have at their disposal all necessary hospital and research facilities, and auxiliary out-patient services such as nursing, through the agency of the general practitioner.
5. 31. To achieve these aims, care should preferably be furnished by group practice at centres of various kinds working in effective relation with hospitals.
6. 32. Pending the establishment of, and experiments with, group practice at medical or health centres, it would be appropriate to obtain care for beneficiaries from members of the medical and allied professions practising at their own offices.
7. 33. Where the medical care service covers the majority of the population, medical or health centres may appropriately be built, equipped and operated by the authority administering the service in the health area, in one of the forms indicated in Paragraphs 34, 35 and 36.
8. 34. Where no adequate facilities exist or where a system of hospitals with out-patient departments for general-practitioner and specialist treatment already obtains in the health area at the time when the medical care service is introduced, hospitals may appropriately be established as, or developed into, centres providing all kinds of in- and out-patient care and complemented by local outposts for general-practitioner care and for auxiliary services.
9. 35. Where general practice is well developed outside the hospital system while specialists are mainly consultants and working at hospitals, it may be appropriate to establish medical or health centres for non-residential general-practitioner care and auxiliary services, and to centralise specialist in-patient and out-patient care at hospitals.
10. 36. Where general and specialist practice are well developed outside the hospital system, it may be appropriate to establish medical or health centres for all non-residential treatment, general-practitioner and specialist, and all auxiliary services, while cases needing residential care are directed from the centres to the hospitals.
11. 37. Where the medical care service does not cover the majority of the population but has a substantial number of beneficiaries, and existing hospital and other medical facilities are inadequate, the insurance institution, or insurance institutions jointly, should establish a system of medical or health centres which affords all care, including hospital accommodation at the main centres, and, so far as possible, transport arrangements; such centres may be required more particularly in sparsely settled areas with a scattered insured population.
12. 38. Where the medical care service covers too small a section for complete health centres to be an economical means of serving its beneficiaries, and existing facilities for specialist treatment in the area are inadequate, it may be appropriate for the insurance institution, or the institutions jointly, to maintain posts at which specialists attend beneficiaries as required.
13. 39. Where the medical care service covers a relatively small section of the population concentrated in an area with extensive private practice, it may be appropriate for the members of the medical and allied professions participating in the service to collaborate at centres rented, equipped and administered by the members, at which both beneficiaries of the service and private patients receive care.
14. 40. Where the medical care service covers only a small number of beneficiaries who are scattered over a populated area with adequate existing facilities, and voluntary group practice as provided for in Paragraph 39 is not feasible, beneficiaries may appropriately receive care from members of the medical and allied professions practising at their own offices, and at public and approved private hospitals and other medical institutions.
15. 41. Travelling clinics in motor vans or aircraft, equipped for first aid, dental treatment, general examination and possibly other health services such as maternal and infant health services, should be provided for serving areas with a scattered population and remote from towns or cities, and arrangements should be made for the free conveyance of patients to centres and hospitals.

Collaboration with General Health Services

1. 42. There should be available to the beneficiaries of the medical care service all general health services, being services providing means for the whole community and/or groups of individuals to promote and protect their health while it is not yet threatened or known to be threatened, whether such services be given by members of the medical and allied professions or otherwise.
2. 43. The medical care service should be provided in close co-ordination with general health services, either by means of close collaboration of the social insurance institutions providing medical care and the authorities administering the general health services, or by combining medical care and general health services in one public service.
3. 44. Local co-ordination of medical care and general health services should be aimed at either by establishing medical care centres in proximity to the headquarters for general health services, or by establishing common centres as headquarters for all or most health services.
4. 45. The members of the medical and allied professions participating in the medical care service and working at health centres may appropriately undertake such general health care as can with advantage be given by the same staff, including immunisation, examination of school children and other groups, advice to expectant mothers and mothers with infants, and other care of a like nature.

IV. The Quality of Service

Optimum Standard

1. 46. The medical care service should aim at providing the highest possible standard of care, due regard being paid to the importance of the doctor-patient relationship and the professional and personal responsibility of the doctor, while safeguarding both the interests of the beneficiaries and those of the professions participating.

Choice of Doctor and Continuity of Care

1. 47. The beneficiary should have the right to make an initial choice, among the general practitioners at the disposal of the service within a reasonable distance from his home, of the doctor by whom he wishes to be attended in a permanent capacity (family doctor); he should have the same right of choice for his children. These principles should also apply to the choice of a dentist as family dentist.
2. 48. Where care is provided at or from health centres, the beneficiary should have the right to choose his centre within a reasonable distance from his home and to select for himself or his children a doctor and a dentist among the general practitioners and dentists working at this centre.
3. 49. Where there is no centre, the beneficiary should have the right to select his family doctor and dentist among the participating general practitioners and dentists whose office is within a reasonable distance from his home.
4. 50. The beneficiary should have the right subsequently to change his family doctor or dentist, subject to giving notice within a prescribed time, for good reasons, such as lack of personal contact and confidence.
5. 51. The general practitioner or the dentist participating in the service should have the right to accept or refuse a client, but may not accept a number in excess of a prescribed maximum nor refuse such clients as have not made their own choice and are assigned to him by the service through impartial methods.
6. 52. The care given by specialists and members of allied professions, such as nurses, midwives, masseurs and others, should be available on the recommendation, and through the agency, of the beneficiary's family doctor who should take reasonable account of the patient's wishes if several members of the specialty or other profession are available at the centre or within a reasonable distance of the patient's home. Special provision should be made for the availability of the specialist when requested by the patient though not recommended by the family doctor.
7. 53. Residential care should be made available on the recommendation of the beneficiary's family doctor, or on the advice of the specialist, if any, who has been consulted.
8. 54. If residential care is provided at the centre to which the family doctor or specialist is attached, the patient should preferably be attended in the hospital by his own family doctor or the specialist to whom he was referred.
9. 55. Arrangements for the general practitioners or dentists at a centre to be consulted by appointment should be made whenever practicable.

Working Conditions and Status of Doctors and Members of Allied Professions

1. 56. The working conditions of doctors and members of allied professions participating in the service should be designed to relieve the doctor or member from financial anxiety by providing adequate income during work, leave and illness and in retirement, and pensions to his survivors, without restricting his professional discretion otherwise than by professional supervision, and should not be such as to distract his attention from the maintenance and improvement of the health of the beneficiaries.
2. 57. General practitioners, specialists and dentists, working for a medical care service covering the whole or a large majority of the population, may appropriately be employed whole time for a salary, with adequate provision for leave, sickness, old age and death, if the medical profession is adequately represented on the body employing them.
3. 58. Where general practitioners or dentists, engaged in private practice, undertake part-time work for a medical care service with a sufficient number of beneficiaries, it may be appropriate to pay them a fixed basic amount per year, including provision for leave, sickness, old age and death, and increased if desired by a capitation fee for each person or family in the doctor's or dentist's charge.
4. 59. Specialists engaged in private practice who work part time for a medical care service with a considerable number of beneficiaries may appropriately be paid an amount proportionate to the time devoted to such service (part-time salary).
5. 60. Doctors and dentists engaged in private practice who work part time for a medical care service with few beneficiaries only may appropriately be paid fees for services rendered.
6. 61. Among the members of allied professions participating in the service, those rendering personal care may appropriately be employed whole time for salary, with adequate provision for leave, sickness, old age and death, while members furnishing supplies should be paid in accordance with adequate tariffs.
7. 62. Working conditions for members of the medical and allied professions participating in the service should be uniform throughout the country or for all sections covered by the service, and agreed on with the representative bodies of the profession, subject only to such variations as may be necessitated by differences in the exigencies of the service.
8. 63. Provisions should be made for the submission of complaints by beneficiaries concerning the care received, and by members of the medical or allied professions concerning their relations with the administration of the service, to appropriate arbitration bodies under conditions affording adequate guarantees to all parties concerned.
9. 64. The professional supervision of the members of the medical and allied professions working for the service should be entrusted to bodies predominantly composed of representatives of the professions participating, with adequate provision for disciplinary measures.
10. 65. Where, in the proceedings referred to in Paragraph 63, a member of the medical or allied professions working for the service is deemed to have neglected his professional duties, the arbitration body should refer the matter to the supervisory body referred to in Paragraph 64.

Standard of Professional Skill and Knowledge

1. 66. The highest possible standard of skill and knowledge should be achieved and maintained for the professions participating both by requiring high standards of education, training and licensing and by keeping up to date and developing the skill and knowledge of those engaged in the service.
2. 67. Doctors participating in the service should be required to have an adequate training in social medicine.
3. 68. Students of the medical and dental professions should, before being admitted as fully qualified doctors or dentists to the service, be required to work as assistants at health centres or offices, especially in rural areas, under the supervision and direction of more experienced practitioners.
4. 69. A minimum period as hospital assistant should be prescribed among the qualifications for every doctor entering the service.
5. 70. Doctors wishing to furnish specialist service should be required to have certificates of competence for their specialty.
6. 71. Doctors and dentists participating should be required periodically to attend post-graduate courses organised or approved for this purpose.
7. 72. Adequate periods of apprenticeship at hospitals or health centres should be prescribed for members of allied professions, and post-graduate courses should be organised and attendance periodically required for those participating in the service.
8. 73. Adquate facilities for teaching and research should be made available at the hospitals administered by or working with the medical care service.
9. 74. Professional education and research should be promoted with the financial and legal support of the State.

V. Financing of Medical Care Service

Raising of Funds under Social Insurance Service

1. 75. The maximum contribution that may be charged to an insured person should not exceed such proportion of his income as, applied to the income of all insured persons, would yield an income equal to the probable total cost of the medical care service, including the cost of care given to qualified dependants as defined in Paragraph 6.
2. 76. The contribution paid by an insured person should be such part of the maximum contribution as can be borne without hardship.
3. 77. Employers should be required to pay part of the maximum contribution on behalf of persons employed by them.
4. 78. Persons whose income does not exceed the subsistence level should not be required to pay an insurance contribution. Equitable contributions should be paid by the public authority on their behalf: Provided that in the case of employed persons, such contributions may be paid wholly or partly by their employers.
5. 79. The cost of the medical care service not covered by contributions should be borne by taxpayers.
6. 80. Contributions in respect of employed persons may appropriately be collected by their employers.
7. 81. Where membership of an occupational association or the possession of a licence is compulsory for any class of self-employed persons, the association or the licensing authority may be made responsible for collecting contributions from the persons concerned.
8. 82. The national or local authority may be made responsible for collecting contributions from self-employed persons registered for the purpose of taxation.
9. 83. Where a scheme of social insurance for cash benefits is in operation, contributions both under such scheme and under the medical care service may appropriately be collected together.

Raising of Funds under Public Medical Care Service

1. 84. The cost of the medical care service should be met out of public funds.
2. 85. Where the whole population is covered by the medical care service and all health services are under unified central and area administration, the medical care service may appropriately be financed out of general revenue.
3. 86. Where the administration of the medical care service is separate from that of general health services, it may be appropriate to finance the medical care service by a special tax.
4. 87. The special tax should be paid into a separate fund reserved for the purpose of financing the medical care service.
5. 88. The special tax should be progressively graded and should be designed to yield a return sufficient for financing the medical care service.
6. 89. Persons whose income does not exceed the subsistence level should not be required to pay the tax.
7. 90. The special tax may appropriately be collected by the national income tax authorities or, where there is no national income tax, by authorities responsible for collecting local taxes.

Raising of Capital Funds

1. 91. In addition to providing the normal resources for financing the medical care service, measures should be taken to utilise the assets of social insurance institutions, or funds raised by other means, for financing the extraordinary expenditure necessitated by the extension and improvement of the service, more particularly by the building or equipment of hospitals and medical centres.

VI. Supervision and Administration of Medical Care Service

Unity of Health Services and Democratic Control

1. 92. All medical care and general health services should be centrally supervised and should be administered by health areas as defined in Paragraph 24, and the beneficiaries of the medical care service, as well as the medical and allied professions concerned, should have a voice in the administration of the service.

Unification of Central Administration

1. 93. A central authority, representative of the community, should be responsible for formulating the health policy or policies and for supervising all medical care and general health services, subject to consultation of, and collaboration with, the medical and allied professions on all professional matters, and to consultation of the beneficiaries on matters of policy and administration affecting the medical care service.
2. 94. Where the medical care service covers the whole or the majority of the population and a central government agency supervises or administers all medical care and general health services, beneficiaries may appropriately be deemed to be represented by the head of the agency.
3. 95. The central government agency should keep in touch with the beneficiaries through advisory bodies comprising representatives of organisations of the different sections of the population, such as trade unions, employers' associations, chambers of commerce, farmers' associations, women's associations and child protection societies.
4. 96. Where the medical care service covers only a section of the population, and a central government agency supervises all medical care and general health services, representatives of the insured persons should participate in the supervision, preferably through advisory committees, as regards all matters of policy affecting the medical care service.
5. 97. The central government agency should consult the representatives of the medical and allied professions, preferably through advisory committees, on all questions relating to the working conditions of the members of the professions participating, and on all other matters primarily of a professional nature, more particularly on the preparation of laws and regulations concerning the nature, extent and provision of the care furnished under the service.
6. 98. Where the medical care service covers the whole or the majority of the population and a representative body supervises or administers all medical care and general health services, beneficiaries should be represented on such body, either directly or indirectly.
7. 99. In this event, the medical and allied professions should be represented on the representative body, preferably in numbers equal to those of the beneficiaries or the government as the case may be; the professional members should be elected by the profession concerned, or nominated by their representatives and appointed by the central government.
8. 100. Where the medical care service covers the whole or the majority of the population and a corporate body of experts established by legislation or by charter supervises or administers all medical care and general health services, such body may appropriately consist of an equal number of members of the medical and allied professions and of qualified laymen.
9. 101. The professional members of the expert body should be appointed by the central government from among candidates nominated by the representatives of the medical and allied professions.
10. 102. The representative executive body or the expert body supervising or administering medical care and general health services should be responsible to the government for its general policy.
11. 103. In the case of a federal State, the central authority referred to in the preceding Paragraphs may be either a federal or a state authority.

Local Administration

1. 104. Local administration of medical care and general health services should be unified or co-ordinated within areas formed for the purpose as provided for in Paragraph 24, and the medical care service in the area should be administered by or with the advice of bodies representative of the beneficiaries and partly composed of, or assisted by, representatives of the medical and allied professions, so as to safeguard the interests of the beneficiaries and the professions, and secure the technical efficiency of the service and the professional freedom of the participating doctors.
2. 105. Where the medical care service covers the whole or the majority of the population in the health area, all medical care and general health services may appropriately be administered by one area authority.
3. 106. Where, in this event, the area government administers the health services on behalf of the beneficiaries, the medical and allied professions should participate in the administration of the medical care service, preferably through technical committees elected by the professions or appointed by the area or central government from among nominees of the professions concerned.
4. 107. Where a medical care service covering the whole or the majority of the population in the health area is administered by a representative body, the area government, on behalf of the beneficiaries, and the medical and allied professions in the area, should be represented on such body, preferably in equal numbers.
5. 108. Where the medical service is administered by area offices or officers of the central authority, the medical and allied professions in the area should participate in the administration, preferably through executive technical committees, elected or appointed in the manner provided for in Paragraph 106.
6. 109. Whatever the form of the area administration, the authority administering the medical care service should keep in constant touch with the beneficiaries in the area through advisory bodies, elected by representative organisations of the different sections of the population, in the manner provided for in Paragraph 95.
7. 110. Where the social insurance medical care service covers only a section of the population, administration of that service may appropriately be entrusted to a representative executive body responsible to the government, and comprising representatives of the beneficiaries, of the medical and allied professions participating in the service and of the employers.

Administration of Health Units

1. 111. Health units owned and operated by the medical care service, such as medical or health centres or hospitals, should be administered under democratic control with adequate provisions for the participation of the medical profession, or wholly or predominantly by doctors elected by, or appointed after consultation of, the members of the medical and allied professions participating in the medical care service, in co-operation with all the doctors working at the unit.

Right of Appeal

1. 112. Beneficiaries or members of the medical or allied professions who have submitted complaints to the arbitration body referred to in Paragraph 63 should have a right of appeal from the decisions of such body to an independent tribunal.
2. 113. Members of the medical and allied professions against whom disciplinary measures have been taken by the supervisory body referred to in Paragraph 64 should have a right of appeal from the decisions of such body to an independent tribunal.
3. 114. Where the supervisory body referred to in Paragraph 64 takes no disciplinary action on a matter referred to it by the arbitration body, in accordance with Paragraph 65, the interested parties should have a right of appeal to an independent tribunal.