Vision and Mission Statements
Department of Health XI
Vision: A Global Leader for attaining better health outcomes, competitive and responsive health care systems, and equitable health care financing.
Mission: To guarantee equitable, sustainable and quality health for all Filipinos, especially the poor, and to lead the quest for excellence in health.
Southern Philippines Medical Center
Vision: A World-Class, Service-Oriented Medical Center
Mission: Provide accessible, equitable, holistic and responsive health care services. Produce outstanding, compassionate and competent health professionals through training and development. Engage in ethical and relevant researches to continuously improve the quality of health care.
History and Mandate of DCHD-JREC
Arising from the need to establish an efficient system of knowledge production that will complement the present directions of the Department of Health towards clustered health care delivery and integrated training programs for human resources for health (HRH), the Region XI Integrated Research Board (RXIIRB) was created in March 2011 through Health Service Delivery Cluster (HSDC) Memorandum 2011-001.
As defined in HSDC Memorandum 2011-001, the RXIIRB is the working group that is duly tasked to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate programs and activities that will strengthen the role of research in the training of HRH and health care delivery within Davao Region (Region XI).
The memorandum further specified that "The Research Directors, Research Committee Members and Institutional Review Board Members of Davao Regional Hospital, Southern Philippines Medical Center and Center for Health Development - Davao Region shall compose the members of the board and shall initiate actions that shall serve towards their assigned tasks."
In response to the memorandum, the Research Directors of the component institutions created the RXIIRB Steering Committee and held a strategic planning activity. On 25 April 2011, the Southern Philippines Medical Center - Institutional Review Board (SPMC IRB) Chair, who is concomitantly the Davao Regional Hospital - Hospital (DRH HRC) Chair, initiated a meeting with the Center for Health Development Davao Region - Ethics Review Committee (CHDDR ERC) Chair and other key persons in the individual component committees in order to organize the RXIIRB Steering Committee. The Steering Committee subsequently planned and implemented the RXIIRB operations that are relevant to the board's assigned tasks.
During the first Steering Committee meeting, four task-based committees were created for the RXIIRB, namely:
Research Generation Committee (RGC) - tasked to come up with a list of context-specific regional research agenda; to implement activities that will encourage relevant health care research within the region.
Cluster Ethics Review Committee (CERC) – tasked to review, approve and monitor health care research involving humans within the region, with the aim to protect the rights and welfare of the research subjects.
Research-to-policy Committee (RPC) – tasked to ensure that research outputs are converted to policies; to ensure adequate dissemination of research outputs through publication and policy dialogues.
Training and Development Committee (TDC) – tasked to provide health research capacity-building activities within the region.
In early 2013, the CERC was renamed Department of Health XI Cluster Ethics Review Committee (DOHXI CERC) in order to reflect the mandate that underlies its creation, as well as the scope of the tasks of the committee.
In September 2013, the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB) and the Forum for Ethics Review Committees in Asia-Pacific (FERCAP) conducted a joint survey of the operations of DOHXI CERC. Subsequently, DOHXI CERC was awarded recognition by FERCAP on 20 November 2013 and Level 3 accreditation by PHREB on 14 March 2014.
In May 2018, the Davao Regional Medical Center Research Ethics Committee (DRMC REC) separated from CERC through FIMC VM Memorandum No: 2018-0020 to facilitate efficient REC functions among the member institutions. The Department of Health Regional Office XI and Southern Philippines Medical Center remained as members of DOH XI CERC.
On 26 October 2021, through DCHD Order No. 2021-0151, an amendment to the CHD DR ORDER No. 003 s. 2013 has been issued by the Davao Center for Health Development that reorganized and renamed DOH XI CERC to Davao Center for Health Development Joint Research Ethics Committee (DCHD JREC) to reaffirm the commitment of Southern Philippines Medical Center and Davao Center for Health Development in maintaining the operations of its joint research ethics committee.
Statement of general policies and principles of operation
The DCHD JREC was constituted and is operating according to the policies and principles set forth by local and international standards, including the Declaration of Helsinki 2013, the International Conference on Harmonisation - Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP) Guidelines, Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) Guidelines, World Health Organization (WHO) Standards and Operational Guidance for Ethics Review of Health-Related Research and Surveying and Evaluation Ethical Review Practices, PHREB National Ethical Guidelines for Health Research, and applicable laws and regulations. The committee holds a Level 3 accreditation by the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB). The committee is also fully recognized by the Forum for Ethical Review Committees in the Asian and Western Pacific Region (FERCAP), and has an active Federalwide Assurance (FWA number: FWA00020537) duly approved by the United States Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP).
Review scope of authority
The DCHD JREC reviews and monitors researches involving human subjects and including research on identifiable human material and data that are proposed to be done within its two member institutions or proposed to be conducted by employees of the institutions. The committee may also review and monitor community-based researches that seek endorsement from any of its member institutions, as well as researches done in other institutions that do not have ethics review committees.
Functions of the DCHD JREC
The following are the functions of the DCHD JREC (based on CIOMS):
to determine that all proposed interventions, particularly the administration of drugs and vaccines or the use of medical devices or procedures under development, are acceptably safe to be undertaken in humans or to verify that another competent Ethics Review Committee has done so;
to determine that the proposed research is scientifically sound or to verify that another competent Ethics Review Committee has done so;
to ensure that all other ethical concerns arising from a protocol are satisfactorily resolved both in principle and in practice;
to consider the qualifications of the investigators, including education in the principles of research practice, and the conditions of the research site with a view to ensuring the safe conduct of the trial; and
to keep records of decisions and to take measures to follow up on the conduct of ongoing research projects.
JREC Management Team
The DCHD JREC Management Team (JREC ManTeam) is composed of DCHD and SPMC members. The JREC ManTeam members reviews policies and procedures, draft new or revise existing operating procedures, provide guidance on standards and strategies for the development of JREC members. The JREC ManTeam also deliberates and resolves issues and concerns that are brought during review panel meetings.
Review Panel
A review panel is headed by a Review Panel Chair and a Panel Member Secretary. The DCHD JREC review panel has five regular members composed of medical scientists, non-medical professionals, and at least one non-institutional member. Alternate members and independent consultants may also be invited to the panel in cases where a regular member is not present, or the panel lacks the expertise to review a protocol.
Pool of Alternate Members
Alternate members of DCHD JREC are pooled. They attend meetings of the DCHD JREC to replace a regular member who cannot attend or when their expertise are needed. Alternate members may review protocols as primary reviewers. If designated as primary reviewer, an alternate member like a regular member, has to attend full board meetings. An alternate member is also responsible for the re-review (of re-submitted protocol), protocol amendment, continuing review and the review of the final report of the protocol that s/he initially reviewed as the primary reviewer.