OPAV supports creation of state medicine school

CEBU, Philippines — Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino has expressed his support for the first ever state-funded medical college in Central Visayas.

The Cebu Normal University-Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (CNU-VSMMC)-College of Medicine will be one of the solutions for the current shortage of medical doctors in the region.

“This office acknowledges the lack of health professionals serving the rural areas due to opportunities offered by the urban areas in terms of medical practice and lifestyle preferences,” said Dino in his letter to Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairperson Dr. Prospero De Vera III.

The letter, sent last September 17, aims to get approval from CHED on the plan of the proposed CNU-VSMMC College of Medicine.

“With the establishment of a medical state college, we can steadily close the gap of the doctor-patient ratio that is ideal for the primary health care of the country especially for public health in the countryside,” Dino said.

In a statement, Dino said that exemplary or top-performing students who cannot afford to enrol in expensive private medical learning institutions will be prioritized in the said state-funded College of Medicine.

VSMMC Medical Chief Dr. Gerardo Aquino Jr., through a letter sent to Dino, said that they have already appeared before the CHED Technical Committee for Medical Education as part of the application process.

“We target to begin classes in August 2020 at the Medical Center’s Cancer Center while we await the approval of the budget allocation under the General Appropriation Act (GAA) in the coming years,” said Aquino in the letter.

Aquino added that they have already complied with all the documentary requirements needed for establishment of the college.

The five-year straight program of Doctor of Medicine with Masters in Public Health Governance degree will surely produce doctors who are not only experts in delivering patient care services but also transformative leaders in health governance to help achieve positive outcomes in our public health sector.

In Central Visayas alone, the doctor-client ratio is at 1:28,341, far from the ideal 1:100 for Primary Health Care service, the focus of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act.  GAN (FREEMAN)