mar 1, 1956 - 5 regions

Description:

- island divided into 5 regions, defined as catchement area surrounding district hospital
- nrotheast san juan, north rescibo, western mayaguez, southern ponce, eastern fajardo
- medical administrators get a bunhc of training and some even go to colombia university (system of scholarships in pr, us, europe)
- regions mostly staffed by DOH employees
- before: mun auth responsibility for providing healthcare within boundaries; gave up autonomy forbetter services; similarly, doh had to give up some auth to regional offices
regional: has buddgetary discretion, righ to hire and fire ersonnel, and programming activities according to needs of population they serve

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