SENATOR JOEL Villanueva on Tuesday gave assurances that the 2021 national budget has sufficient funding to support the implementation of the Doktor para sa Bayan Act, which was signed into law recently by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Villanueva, principal sponsor and author of Republic Act 11509, explained that Congress allocated over P1 billion for the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Health to increase more scholarship slots for aspiring doctors and provide them with their medical school needs.

“With the enactment of the Doktor para sa Bayan law, there is no more reason that we cannot have enough doctors to take care of our people. One of our goals in the measure is to eliminate the biggest perceived reason of our youths who aspire to become doctors. Their dreams of becoming a doctor has a clearer path today through the Doktor para sa Bayan bill,” he said.

“Litaw na litaw po ang tinaguriang ‘achilles heel’ ng ating healthcare system ngayong pandemya. Kulang po ang ating mga doktor na siyang mangangalaga sa ating mga kababayan. Inaasahan po natin na sa kalaunan, dadami ang mga doktor sa mga bayan at munisipalidad, at hindi na kailangang dumayo pa ang mga maysakit sa mga malalayong lugar para mabigyan ng atensyon medikal,” the senator added.

Villanueva lamented that most of the country’s doctors are concentrated in urban centers like the National Capital Region where nearly 40 percent of the licensed physicians practice their profession.

In contrast, Region 4B, Region 12 and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have one doctor for every 10,000 population.

To meet the ideal ratio of 10 doctors for every 10,000 people prescribed by the World Health Organization, the lawmaker pointed out that the government would need to multiply their efforts 10 times.

Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, Villanueva said six out of 10 Filipinos who die were not able to see a doctor for treatment.

Under this year’s budget, the CHED and DOH were given P802 million to accommodate more scholars under the medical scholarship program.

The law grants scholarships to deserving students aspiring to become physicians.

The government will shoulder all expenses but the scholars will be required to work in government hospitals or public health facilities.