LTO to accept medical certificates online only
Starting on Jan. 14, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will only accept online medical certificates of persons applying for a driver’s license and a student’s permit or renewing a license.
The medical certificates must come from accredited clinics and doctors and must have the fingerprints of the doctors who conducted the physical examination.
LTO 7 Director Victor Emmanuel Caindec believes this will eradicate the problem of “pre-signed” medical certificates that are issued by a clinic’s staff, which is tantamount to perjury.
Caindec said the new system would also eradicate “canvassers.” He said his office could not stop them because even if they operated By requiring persons applying for or renewing a driver’s license to submit an online medical certificate from an accredited doctor or clinic, the agency hopes to eradicate the problem of “pre-signed” medical certificates. The LTO 7 had received complaints that medical certificates could be obtained without being examined by a doctor.
in the agency’s vicinity, they were outside the agency’s jurisdiction.
“We received complaints from people applying for a driver’s license that they were made to pay for medical certificates when no doctors examined them. We did not investigate these because we had no accreditation of clinics and doctors,” Caindec said.
He compared the new system to the policy the LTO adopted to eradicate vehicle smuggling.
The agency requires the owner to submit a certificate of payment of duties and taxes issued by the Bureau of Customs as proof that the unit is legally imported and taxes have been paid.
Caindec said 50 doctors had applied for accreditation. The LTO 7 also invited major hospitals to participate in the program, with Chong Hua Hospital and the University of Cebu Medical Center responding so far.
“The drivers can now secure medical certificates as a requisite to get a driver’s license from a clinic, a hospital or a mall. They will now have a choice at their convenient time,” Caindec said.