The government-run Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) based in this city will formally open this year the first public medical school in Western Mindanao.
Dr. Carla Ochotorena, WMSU president, made the announcement Thursday after the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) approved the university’s application to offer a Doctor of Medicine program effective academic school year 2021-2022 along with the Cebu Normal University-Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (CNU-SMMC).
“This is the first public medical school in Western Mindanao and the tuition is free especially for deserving students,” said Ochotorena, who received the notice of approval from CHED on Wednesday.
“The medical course offering of WMSU will be in the concept of ‘Doctor of the Barrio’ through the scholarship support under the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act,” Ochotorena added.
Republic Act 11509 or the Doctor Para sa Bayan Law was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on December 23, 2020 that establishes a Medical Scholarship and Return Service (MSRS) program for deserving students in state colleges and universities or in partnership with private higher education institutions in regions where no doctor of medicine course exists.
Ochotorena said they will initially accommodate 50 aspiring physicians to enroll in the medical course come school opening in August this year.
Ochotorena said that they have tapped Dr. Ma. Cecilia Cuaresma-Cruz, chief of clinics of the Ospital ng Maynila, to serve as dean of the new medical school in this city.
She said that WMSU have already hired 10 physicians with different field of specializations to be part of the university’s medical faculty.
CHED Commissioner Prospero De Vera III, said in a statement that the approval of WMSU’s medical course is part of the overall national efforts to increase the number of doctors in underserved areas.
“These state universities will assist the government in providing one doctor per barangay as a way of making primary health care accessible especially in rural or underserved areas,” De Vera said.
In support to the R.A. 11509, De Vera said they are aggressively assisting top state universities and colleges to develop doctors of medicine programs to address the shortage of doctors across the country. (PNA)
