MANILA, Philippines ? A Japanese national who passed the Philippine medical exam will soon be able to achieve his dream of practicing medicine in the country.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ordered the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to allow Yasuyuki Ota to work as a doctor in the country, upholding previous rulings by the Court of Appeals and the Manila Regional Trial Court.

In a 15-page decision penned by Associate Justice Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, the high court ruled that Ota has sufficiently proved his competence and qualifications to be able to practice medicine.

Court records showed that Ota, who graduated from Bicol Christian College of Medicine on April 21, 1991 with a degree of doctor of medicine. He completed a one-year post graduate internship training at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, and passed the medical board exam in 1992.

As noted by the courts, Ota merited an average of 81.83 in the medical board exam, with scores higher than 80 in 9 out of the 12 subjects.

His request for license, however, was opposed by then Board of Medicine chairman Dr. Raul Flores and PRC chairman Hermogenes Pobre, on the ground that there is “no genuine reciprocity" in the law of Japan as there is no Filipino or foreigner who can possibly practice there.

Ota filed a petition claiming the Board and PRC acted arbitrarily in depriving him of his legitimate right to practice his profession in the Philippines to his damage and prejudice.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court noted that Ota has satisfactorily complied with all the requirements, including the only matter being questioned by Board of Nursing and PRC: proof that there is reciprocity between the laws of Japan and Philippines in admitting foreigners into the practice of medicine.

The court reminded the PRC that the “power to regulate the exercise of a profession cannot be exercised by the State or its agents in an arbitrary, despotic or oppressive manner."

The Medical Act of 1959 allows a Filipino or a foreigner to take the medical board provided that the candidate has submitted competent and conclusive documentary evidence, confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs showing that his country’s existing laws permit citizens of the Philippines to practice medicine under the same rules and regulations.

“Nowhere in the statutes is it stated that the foreign applicant must show that the condition for the practice of medicine in said country are practical and attainable by Filipinos. Neither is it stated that it must first be proven that a Filipino has been granted license and allowed to practice his profession in said country before a foreign applicant may be given license to practice in the Philippines," the Court said.

The records do not show that a Filipino doctor was practicing in Japan, it added.

The SC ruled that it is not the impossibility or prohibition against Filipinos that would account for the absence of Filipino physicians holding licenses and practicing medicine in Japan but the difficulty of passing the board examination in the Japanese language.

“Granting that there is still no Filipino who has been given license to practice medicine in Japan, it does not mean that no Filipino will ever be able to be given one," the court said. GMANews.TV

High court allows Japanese man to practice medicine in RP