CNU-VSMMC now offers medicine program to boost healthcare manpower

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu Normal University-Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (CNU-VSMMC) is now offering a medical degree in a bid to provide more doctors in underserved areas.

This after it was given the green light by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to offer the doctor of medicine program in the next academic year 2021-2022.

CNU officer-in-charge Filomena Dayagbil and VSMMC head Dr.Gerardo Aquino, in a joint statement, have invited young individuals with “passion and commitment to serve” to join the program.

Both officials said the products of this program will help bring in positive transformation through quality public healthcare and community organization.

“We are tipping the glass on medical education for students who have the potential and ardent desire but don’t have the adequate resources to become doctors,” they said.

The officials also thanked CHED for authorizing CNU-VSMMC to open a medicine program.

“We are thankful to CHED for finding merit in our cause of training competent and compassionate doctors who can lead and serve towards providing better healthcare for every Filipino especially those in the rural areas of Central Visayas,” they said.

Aside from CNU-VSMMC, another state university, Western Mindanao State University (WMSU), was also given the go signal to offer the same program.

WMSU program will focus on holistic and integrated learning in Medicine which combines a problem-based integrated system approach and research-based and values-driven education, while CNU will follow a combination of the Cuban and Canadian model curriculum which balances clinical and population/community-based practice.

The new program is part of the overall national effort to increase the number of doctors in underserved areas via the “Doktor Para sa Bayan Act”.

CHED chairman Prospero De Vera III said the new Doctor of Medicine program in these two state universities and colleges (SUCs) is seen to expand the opportunities for the poor but deserving students through scholarship support under the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act.

“The Duterte administration will produce more doctors through our top SUCs, who will go to underserved areas and local governments in need of health personnel,” he said.

The Doktor Para sa Bayan Law or RA 11509 was recently signed by President Rodrigo Duterte. It aims to establish a Medical Scholarship and Return Service (MSRS) program for deserving students in SUCs or in partner private higher education institutions (HEIs) in regions where no SUCs offer a medical course.

“In support of these landmark laws, CHED is aggressively assisting top SUCs to develop doctor of medicine programs to address the shortage of doctors across regions of the country,” said De Vera III.

These state universities, De Vera added, will also assist the government in providing one doctor per barangay as a way of making primary health care accessible especially in rural or underserved areas, as mandated under Section 25.3.e and f of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act.

Quoting the Department of Health, CHED said the UHC or the Kalusugan Pangkalahatan (KP) is the “provision to every Filipino of the highest possible quality of health care that is accessible, efficient, equitably distributed, adequately funded, fairly financed, and appropriately used by an informed and empowered public”. — KQD (FREEMAN)