EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1982 NO. 69
NATIONAL HEALTH ACT 1953
NATIONAL HEALTH (PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFITS)
REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH
Section 140 of the National Health Act 1953 provides that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Act prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
The National Health Amendment Act 1981, which received Royal Assent on 26 November 1981, amended, amongst other things, section 94 of the National Health Act 1953 to effect a transfer, from the Permanent Head to the Minister for Health, of the power to approve hospital authorities for the purpose of supplying pharmaceutical benefits. As a consequence of that amendment, it was necessary to amend the National Health (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Regulations.
Details of the amending regulations are set out below -
• Regulation 1 amends the heading to Part II of the National Health (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Regulations by inserting the words “Medical Practitioners” to reflect the fact that Part II refers to approvals of medical practitioners, as well as chemists, dentists and hospitals, for the purpose of supplying pharmaceutical benefits.
• Regulation 2 amends regulation 8 so that the Minister, rather than the Permanent Head, may refuse to consider an application by a hospital authority for approval, under section 94 of the Act, unless the application is in accordance with the prescribed form.
Regulation 3 amends regulation 8A so that the Minister, rather than the Permanent Head, may allocate a number to an approved hospital authority.