§ 31-26-2 - Requirement of certificate; application; educational requirements; issuance, suspension, and revocation
               	 		
O.C.G.A.    31-26-2   (2010)
   31-26-2.    Requirement of certificate; application; educational requirements; issuance, suspension, and revocation 
      (a)  No  person shall practice midwifery without first receiving from the  Department of Community Health a certificate of authority as provided in  this Code section and registering his or her name, address, and  occupation with the county board of health and the local registrar, as  defined in Code Section 31-10-2, of vital statistics in the county and  district in which he or she lives.
(b)  Persons  desiring to enter into or continue the practice of midwifery shall make  written application to the department through the county board of  health in the county of their residence. All applicants for permits to  practice midwifery shall be of good character and sound mind, shall be  free of tuberculosis, venereal diseases, and other communicable diseases  in the infectious stage, and shall be protected against smallpox.
(c)  In  order to become eligible for a certificate of authority to practice  midwifery, applicants shall attend classes and satisfactorily complete  courses of instruction therein to be prescribed by the department and  shall pass an examination covering such courses. Such applicants shall  also pass such physical examinations or, in the alternative, provide  such evidence with regard to their personal health as the department may  require.
(d)  The department or any county  board of health designated by the department shall issue, or refuse to  issue, or, having issued, may suspend or revoke certificates of  authority to practice midwifery under and in accordance with this  chapter and such rules and regulations as may be issued and promulgated  under this chapter. Certificates issued under this chapter shall be  renewable annually at such time and in such manner as prescribed by the  department. Suspension and revocation of certificates shall be subject  to the administrative procedures contained in Article 1 of Chapter 5 of  this title.