THE PAMANTASAN ng Lungsod ng Maynila expects to produce more physicians after President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Doctor Para sa Bayan Act which grants medical education and training scholarships to deserving students.

PLM President Emmanuel Leyco said the new law will boost its medicine-related programs as it hopes to contribute more to the country’s response to the Covid19 pandemic.

“Public health is a priority area for PLM. Even prior to the global health crisis, PLM has taken steps to increase our enrollees pursuing medicine and related courses. The new unit will provide quality training and education to aspiring public health professionals and health policy practitioners, who will be our future frontliners,” Leyco said.

According to the PLM Board of Regents, they planned to raise the number of enrollees at the College of Medicine to 200 first year students but were constrained by the community quarantine and suspension of face-to-face classes.

Instead, the university decided to accept more freshmen students in health-related undergraduate programs such as nursing, psychology, and biology.

In the November 2020 physician licensure examination, the university’s College of Medicine was the fourth top performing school in the country, posting a 97.58 percent passing rate and producing two board topnotchers.

“As a public university, PLM is committed to uphold academic excellence, integrity, and social responsibility. Making quality education more accessible for our future doctors and medical professionals is one of the ways we contribute to nation-building,” Leyco said.

PLM said that specific details on how students can avail of the scholarships will depend on the implementing rules and regulations to be crafted by the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Health.