SENATOR Pia Cayetano on Wednesday expressed her dismay over the delayed implementation of the Doktor Para Sa Bayan Act or the Medical Scholarship Law.

During the virtual hearing on the P242.2 billion proposed 2022 budget of the Department of Health and its attached agencies, Cayetano quizzed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III why it took the Commission on Higher Education almost a year to finish the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 11509.

“I was so shocked and felt so bad because I have made a commitment to our colleagues to provide funding for every state university and college that would be increasing their capacity to accommodate more students, and then we learned that the IRR was passed only on September 7. There seems to be no sense of urgency on the part of CHED to get this going,” Cayetano said.

Duque assured the committee that he asked CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera III to aggressively implement the program.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III was the principal sponsor of Doktor Para sa Bayan Act, a medical scholarship and return service program, which grants scholarships to deserving students aspiring to become physicians.

On December 23, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the law recognizing the policy of the state to protect and promote the people’s right to health through the formulation and implementation of policies and strategies for the appropriate generation, recruitment, retraining, regulation, retention and reassessment of the health workforce.

Student financial assistance for the MSRS program will include free tuition and other fees; allowance for prescribed books, supplies, and equipment; clothing or uniform allowance; allowance for dormitory or boarding house accommodation; transportation allowance; internship fees, including financial assistance during the mandatory internship; medical board review fees; licensure fees; annual medical insurance; and other education-related miscellaneous subsistence or living allowances.