TO SUPPORT the government’s move to boost the stable of medical workers, the Commission on Higher Education has allowed two schools to open medicine programs.

Beginning Academic Year 2021-2022, the Cebu Normal University-Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center and Western Mindanao State University will offer a Doctor of Medicine Program.

These state universities will assist the government in providing one doctor per barangay to improve health services especially in remote areas as mandated by the Universal Health Care Act.

CNU shall follow a combination of the Cuban and Canadian curriculum which balances clinical and population/community based practice.

The WMSU program meanwhile will focus on Holistic and Integrated Learning in Medicine which combines problem-based integrated system approach and research-based  and values-driven education.

“The new Doctor of Medicine program in these two SUCs will expand the opportunities for the poor but deserving students through scholarship support under the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act. The Duterte administration will produce more doctors through our top SUCs, who will go to underserved areas and local governments in need of health personnel,” CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera III said.

The Doktor Para sa Bayan Law or RA 11509  recently signed by President Rodrigo Duterte aims to establish a Medical Scholarship and Return Service program for deserving students in state universities and colleges or in partner private higher education institutions in regions where no SUCs offer a medical course.

“In support of these landmark laws, CHED is aggressively assisting top SUCs develop doctor of medicine programs to address the shortage of doctors across regions of the country,” De Vera said.

In line with this program, CHED has provided funds for the acquisition of equipment in the medical schools of the Mariano Marcos State University, University of Northern Philippines and West Visayas State University.

More than 1,000 students in eight SUCs with medical programs have benefited from the Medical Scholarship program of CHED since 2017.