Marcos urged to create more medicine schools in SUCs

MANILA, Philippines — Citing the scarcity of doctors, the leader of the opposition bloc at the House of Representatives yesterday called on President Marcos to certify as urgent the bills creating more medicine schools in state universities and colleges (SUCs) across the country.

House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan noted that there are nine bills that seek to create additional schools of medicine in SUCs since Filipinos, especially those in far-flung provinces, badly need doctors to strengthen the public health care system.

“We must democratize and widen student access to state-subsidized medical schooling so that the country can produce more Doctor of Medicine graduates in the years ahead,” Libanan, who represents 4Ps party-list, said in a statement.

A lawyer by profession, Libanan took a medical technology course as his pre-law degree.

“Right now, we are not producing enough new doctors due to the prohibitive cost of medical schooling in private higher education institutions. This is why we need more colleges of medicine in our SUCs, especially in the provinces,” he said.

“If we want to assure Filipinos access to quality health care, we need a constant supply of new doctors to replace those retiring or migrating overseas,” he added.

The opposition lawmaker authored one of the nine House bills that seek to establish new schools of medicine in SUCs.

As he proposed in House Bill 9872, a new college of medicine would be created at the Eastern Samar State University in Borongan City.

Libanan hails from Eastern Samar and had represented the province’s lone district in Congress for nine years.

In addition to his bill, eight other measures seek to establish new colleges of medicine at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Quezon City; University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines in Cagayan de Oro City; Samar State University in Catbalogan City, Samar; Aklan State University in Ibajay, Aklan; Mindanao State University in General Santos City; North Eastern Mindanao State University in Tandag, Surigao del Sur; Bukidnon State University in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, and Sultan Kudarat State University in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat.

The country’s doctor-to-population ratio is only around 3.6 doctors for every 10,000 people, according to the Department of Health.

The World Health Organization has pegged the ideal ratio at 10 doctors for every 10,000 people, or one doctor for every 1,000 people.