SENATOR Joel Villanueva is hopeful that more future board passers will come from the Doktor Para sa Bayan program as he congratulated the country’s 1,427 new doctors.

Villanueva on Monday said that the number of board passers is not enough to fill the ideal doctor-to-population ratio.

“At the minimum 1 per 1,000, the country has a shortage of 80,000 doctors,” he said.

This shortfall is based on the 2022 population of 110 million.

“By 2030, our population will increase to 125 million, and 15 million more Filipinos would ideally need 45,000 doctors,” the senator said.

To address this challenge, Villanueva said the medical scholarships under the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act got a big boost in this year’s national budget.

“Ang kabuuang pondo po para sa mga iskolar ng bayan na nag-aaral ng medisina ay lampas isang bilyong piso,” he said.

Villanueva explained that the money for the Doktor Para sa Bayan scholarships will come from different sources.

The Commission on Higher Education will allot P500 million for the Medical Scholarship and Return Service program and P167 million for the existing medical scholarship program.

Another source is the pre-service scholarship grants under the Department of Health’s National Health Workforce Support System Program.

The chairman of the Senate committee on higher, technical, and vocational education said the increase in scholars will go hand-in-hand with the increase in the number of state universities offering medicine courses.

Villanueva noted that while public schools for medicine are yet to be established in seven regions, more SUCs offering medical courses are expected to rise soon.

He added that new public schools of medicine were recently established in the following SUCs: Cebu Normal University (first in Region 7), Western Mindanao State University in Zamboanga City (first in Region 9), and the University of Southeastern Philippines in Davao City (first in Region 9). More schools of medicine are expected to come from SUCs such as Isabela State University, Batangas State University, Cavite State University, University of Southern Mindanao, and Mindanao State University-General Santos.

“With the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act and more SUCs offering medical courses, the dream of becoming a doctor and the dream of medical services for the masses are both close to reality for Filipinos,” Villanueva said.

The Doktor Para sa Bayan Act aims to produce more physicians by offering qualified candidates free tuition, book, living and other allowances. The law requires the scholar to serve in public health facilities for at least one year for every scholarship year enjoyed.