MANILA, Philippines — The government must put up at least one medical school in each and every region in the country as a way to increase the number of doctors and improve the healthcare workforce, Sen. Cynthia Villar said recently.
Villar made the call during the Senate deliberation on Senate Bill 1520 or the Medical Scholarship Bill authored by Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Monday.
Sotto said the bill, which is one of the priority measures of the chamber, would address the shortage of doctors in the country and give poor and deserving students a chance to pursue the medical profession.
Villar said state universities and colleges (SUCs) should be required to establish at least one medical school in all 17 regions of the country.
“If all 17 regions have one (medical school), then you can achieve the target number of doctors, and they’re all over the country,” the senator said.
About 79,800 doctors are needed in order to achieve the ideal ratio of 10 physicians for every 10,000 individuals. Villar said SUCs should work together with Department of Health-operated hospitals and start operating medical schools.
Villar said she would propose a provision in the bill that will list and identify the SUCs and the DOH-operated hospitals which will be mandated to work together to establish medical schools all over the country.
Sen. Joel Villanueva, principal sponsor of the bill, agreed to include the proposal of Villar in the final version of the bill.
She also said she was surprised to learn that out of the 114 SUCs, only nine SUCs have a medical school.