4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino ‘Nonoy’ Libanan is urging the Congress to mandate state universities and colleges to establish their own medical schools in order to produce more doctors to help the public healthcare system.

“Congress must enable highly advanced SUCs, particularly those in the provinces, to put up their own medical schools where tuition fees are at least partly paid for by the state,” Libanan said.

“Very few Filipino families can afford to send their children to private medical schools that are very expensive. This is one of the reasons why we are not producing enough doctors,” he added.

Based on data, only seven of 116 SUCs in the country have a college of medicine.

“We must improve access to state-subsidized medical schooling if we want to produce a greater number of Doctor of Medicine graduates in the years ahead,” the lawmaker stressed.

The solon made the statement as he batted for the immediate passage of his bill seeking to establish the Eastern Samar State University College of Medicine.

As proposed by Libanan in House Bill No. 9872, the new college of medicine would be formed in the Borongan City campus of the ESSU, the second-largest SUC in Eastern Visayas by student population.