(a) Deleted by 1959, Sept. 11, P.L. 866, No. 344, § 1.

(a.1) If the secretary or any local health officer finds that any person who is infected with venereal disease, tuberculosis or any other communicable disease in a communicable stage refuses to submit to treatment approved by the department or by a local board or department of health, the secretary or his representative or the local medical health officer may cause the person to be isolated in an appropriate institution designated by the department or by the local board or department of health for safekeeping and treatment until the disease has been rendered non-communicable.

(a.2) The secretary or the local health officer may file a petition in the court of common pleas of the county in which the person is present to commit such person to an appropriate institution designated by the department or by the local board or department of health for safekeeping and treatment until such time as the disease has been rendered non-communicable. Upon filing of such petition, the court shall, within twenty-four hours after service of a copy thereof upon the respondent, hold a hearing, without a jury, to ascertain whether the person named in the petition has refused to submit to treatment. Upon a finding that the person has refused to submit to such treatment, the court shall forthwith order such person to be committed to an appropriate institution or hospital designated by the department or by the local board or department of health.

(a.3) For the purpose of this section, it is understood that treatment approved by the department or by a local board or department of health shall include treatment by a duly accredited practitioner of any well recognized church or religious denomination which relies on prayer or spiritual means alone for healing: Provided, however, That all requirements relating to sanitation, isolation or quarantine are complied with.

(b) Any county jail or other appropriate institution may receive persons who are isolated or quarantined by the department or by a local board or department of health by reason of a venereal disease for the purpose of safekeeping and treatment. The department or the local board or department of health shall reimburse any institution which accepts such persons at the rate of maintenance that prevails in such institution, and shall furnish the necessary medical treatment to the persons committed to such institution.