 VENEREAL DISEASES  (TREATMENT)  ġ CAP. 124.       1
CHAPTER 124
VENEREAL DISEASES (TREATMENT) ACT 
To make provision for the treatment of Venereal Diseases.
(27th December, 1948) *
Enacted by ACT LVIII of 1948, as amended by Legal Notice 46 of 1965;
and Acts: LVIII of 1974, XXII of 1976 and XIII of 1983.
Short title.
(Treatment) Act.
Interpretation. 
Amended by: XXII. 
1976.4 .
2. In this Act -
"clearance certificate" means, in relation to any person, a
certificate in writing given by the medical officer contemplated in
subsection (1) of section 6 of this Act, certifying that that person
does not, at the date of the certificate, show signs of venereal
disease in a communicable form;
"prescribed" means as prescribed by the Chief Government
Medical Officer;
"special practitioner" means the medical officer in charge of the
venereal diseases department of the hospital or his assistant, or any
medical practitioner recognized by the Chief Government Medical
Officer as a special practitioner for the purposes of this Act;
"treatment" includes any periodical or other medical
examination; 
"venereal disease" means gonorrhoea, syphilis or chancroid.
Special 
practitioner’s duty 
in certain 
circumstances to 
notify the Chief 
Government 
Medical Officer of 
certain particulars 
relating to a patient 
suffering from 
venereal disease.
3. Subject to the provisions contained in section 4 of this Act,
any special practitioner who receives from a patient found by him
to be suffering from a venereal disease information as to a person
from whom the patient suspects that the disease was contracted
shall, unless, having regard to the time at which sexual relations
between the parties are alleged to have taken place and any other
information before him, the practitioner is of opinion that there is
no reasonable cause to believe that the disease was so contracted,
send a notice in the prescribed form to the Chief Government
Medical Officer giving the prescribed particulars as to the patient
and the disease from which the patient is suffering and as to the
person from whom it is suspected that the disease was contracted.
Conditions and 
limitations of the 
duty specified in 
section 3.
4. (1) Before seeking from the patient detailed particulars as
to the source of infection, the special practitioner shall explain to
the patient that all information supplied will be treated as strictly
confidential and that any communication made in good faith for the
purposes of this Act is exempt from civil or criminal proceedings.
He shall also inform the patient of his liability to severe penalties if
he should make a statement or furnish information as to the
suspected source of infection which he knows or has reasonable
* See  Government Notice No. 816 of 28th December, 1948.
  2        CAP. 124. ħ         VENEREAL DISEASES  (TREATMENT)   
cause to believe to be false in a material particular.
(2) The special practitioner shall not send to the Chief
Government Medical Officer the notice mentioned in section 3 of
this Act before he has obtained the patient’s signature or mark to a
statement setting out that patient’s consent to the proposed
transmission of notice.
Duty of the Chief 
Government 
Medical Officer on 
receipt by him of a 
notice sent under 
section 3.
5. (1) If it appears to the Chief Government Medical Officer
that any person being a person specified in notices sent under
section 3 of this Act, is a person from whom two or more patients
suspect that they have contracted a venereal disease, he shall,
unless it appears to him that there is no reasonable cause to believe
that the disease was so contracted, serve on that person a notice in
the prescribed form -
( a ) stating that, according to information received in
pursuance of this Act, there is reason to believe that
that person may require treatment in respect of
venereal disease; and
( b ) requiring that person to attend for, and submit to,
medical examination by a medical officer deputed by
the said Chief Government Medical Officer for the
purpose, within such period and in such a place as may
be specified in the notice.
(2) Any such notice shall be served upon the person on whom it
is required to be served either personally or by a letter sent by
registered post to the last known place of residence or resort of the
person concerned. In the latter case the letter shall be deemed to
have been delivered in the ordinary course of the postal service,
unless proof to the contrary is produced.
Clearance 
certificates and 
treatment notices.
6. (1) The medical officer by whom any person is examined
in pursuance of the requirements of any such notice as aforesaid
shall either send to the Chief Government Medical Officer a
clearance certificate in respect of the person examined, or serve
upon that person (hereinafter referred to as "the contact") a notice
in the prescribed form (hereinafter referred to as a "treatment
notice") requiring the contact to attend for, and submit to further
examination and, or in the alternative, treatment in accordance with
such directions as may be given by him and to continue to do so for
such time as the said medical officer shall consider necessary.
(2) The said medical officer shall inform the Chief Government
Medical Officer in writing of any treatment notice he may have
served. When, in his opinion, any contact who has been under his
treatment as required by this Act is no longer suffering from a
venereal disease in a communicable form and need no longer attend
for examination or for treatment, the said medical officer shall
inform the Chief Government Medical Officer accordingly.
Magistrate may 
order admission 
into, and detention 
in, a hospital of a 
contact.
7. Whenever the medical officer deputed for the purpose
hereunder by the Chief Government Medical Officer reports in
writing that he is of opinion that a contact, who is reasonably
suspected by him of continuing to spread infection, requires special
 VENEREAL DISEASES  (TREATMENT)  ġ CAP. 124.       3
treatment in hospital, the Chief Government Medical Officer may
apply for an order by a magistrate directing that such contact be
admitted into and detained in a hospital at the cost of the
government for such a time, to be fixed in such order, or in a
subsequent order or orders, as may appear to the magistrate, after
having heard the opinion of the said medical officer, to be
necessary to prevent the spread of venereal disease.
Penalties in respect 
of infringements of 
the provisions of 
sections 5 and 6. 
Amended by: 
XIII.1983.5.
8. If, in contravention of the requirements of any notice under
section 5 or of any treatment notice under section 6, a person or a
contact, as the case may be, fails to attend for or submit to medical
examination by the medical officer before whom that person is
required to attend, or to comply with any directions given to the
contact by such a medical officer, the latter shall forthwith report
the circumstances in writing to the Chief Government Medical
Officer, and that person or, as the case may be, that contact shall
thereby be guilty of an offence under this Act, and shall, on
conviction, be liable to a fine ( multa ) of not less than twenty liri but
not exceeding one hundred liri or to imprisonment for a term of
from one to three months or to both such fine and such
imprisonment.
Penalties in respect 
of false 
information 
maliciously given, 
and exemption 
from penalties in 
respect of false 
information given 
in good faith. 
Amended by: 
L.N. 46 of 1965; 
LVIII. 1974.68; 
XIII. 1983.4,5.
9. (1) A patient found by a special practitioner to be suffering
from a venereal disease who gives information as to the person
from whom the patient suspects that the disease was contracted,
knowing or having reasonable cause to believe the information so
given to be false in a material particular, shall be guilty of an
offence under this Act, and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine
( multa ) of not less that twenty liri but not exceeding one hundred
liri or to imprisonment for a term of from one to three months or to
both such fine and such imprisonment. Proceedings for an offence
under this subsection shall not be taken except with the consent of
the Attorney General who shall, as far as he considers proper in
each case, seek to obtain the prior concurrence of the person to
whose detriment the false information was given.
(2) If any information as aforesaid is given in good faith, it
shall, for the purpose of the law relating to defamation, be deemed
to have been communicated in pursuance of a statutory duty.
Secrecy in respect 
of information 
given under the 
provisions of this 
Act and penalties 
in respect of 
breaches of that 
secrecy. 
Amended by:
XIII. 1983.4,5.
10. (1) No person who obtains any information by virtue of
this Act shall, otherwise than in connection with the execution of
the provisions of this Act, disclose that information.
(2) Any person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) of this
section shall be liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding one year or to a fine ( multa ) of not less than one
hundred liri but not exceeding two hundred liri or to both such
imprisonment and such fine.
Proceedings to be 
held with closed 
doors.
11. All judicial proceedings under this Act shall be held with
closed doors.
