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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Monday, June 19, 2017
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MANILA – Those planning to take up Medicine may apply for government scholarship if Senate Bill No. 1157 becomes a law.
Ultimately the measure authored by Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara aims to address the need for doctors in state-run hospitals in the provinces.
The medical scholarship program the bill seeks to put up shall cover free tuition and allowance for books, supplies and equipment, uniform and clothing, housing accommodation, and transportation.
At least one scholar from every province may be taken into the program.
But the number of scholars per province may vary, depending on the number of doctors needed for each, as determined by the Department of Health, the bill stated.
Scholars shall be required to serve in their respective provincial hospitals for at least five years after passing the licensure examination, the bill added.
“Alarming” was how Angara described the “lack or maldistribution” of doctors and health care professionals in the country.
“Most doctors and medical specialists are concentrated in urban centers and larger municipalities, leaving far-flung communities largely unserved,” he said.
There is only one doctor for every 33,000 Filipinos, the senator said, citing data from the Health department.
Three out of five Filipinos die without seeing a doctor, nurse or any other allied health professional, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.
Moreover, about 80 percent of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine graduates opts for a better life abroad, the university said.
“The high cost of med school prompts new doctors to join private hospitals, which offer higher pay,” Angara said. “More lucrative opportunities abroad also lead to an exodus of medical professionals.”
“This bill seeks to reverse these trends and address the continuing need for doctors in our provincial public hospitals,” Angara said.
Meanwhile Angara commended the Commission on Higher Education for allocating P317 million from its 2017 budget to shoulder the tuition of medical students in eight state universities and colleges (SUCs) for academic year 2017-2018.
These SUCs include University of Northern Philippines, Mariano Marcos State University, Cagayan State University, Bicol University, West Visayas State University, UP Leyte, Mindanao State University, and UP Manila.
“To sustain this, I urge my colleagues to support the passage of the bill establishing a medical scholarship program in the country so that the budget for their free tuition will be assured every year,” said Angara./PN
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