“One major achievement under this administration is [that] we have increased the number of medical schools in public universities from eight (8) when the Doktor Para sa Bayan was passed in 2022. We now have 24 medical schools, including 14 new ones in public universities that were opened under the Marcos administration,” Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chair J. Prospero De Vera said.
He added that the President had given instructions that the country should continuously produce “world-class professionals in fields where we are known.” These fields are in medicine, nursing, allied health programs like medical technology, radiologic technology, physical therapy; as well as seafaring,information technology and engineering, among others.
World-class doctors
In particular, the CHED chair said, “We will make sure that in medicine, our doctors are world-class.”
He noted that “all regions now have medical schools in public universities, except the Cordillera administrative region (CAR).”
He stressed the need for the government to “assist in the production of world-class doctors.” This can be done “by making education more affordable and by giving scholarships to the students.” The students, however, are required to give a return service when they graduate.
“We now have more than 2,000 scholars through the Medical Scholarship and Return Service (MSRS), the medical scholarship program of the government,” De Vera noted.
CHED actually awarded and supported 2,689 scholars in AY 2023-2024. For the first semester of AY 2024-2025, they are targeting to have 2,635 scholars.
The CHED Medical Scholarship program is open to college students who are studying for the Doctor of Medicine in state universities and colleges. Those who qualify must be willing to join the Mandatory Scholarship Return Service (MSRS) Program.
The Commission opened 500 new slots for deserving students enrolled in SUCs offering Doctor of Medicine in AY 2024-2025.
The CHED-MSRS scholars use the funds for their tuition, for books, clothing or uniform, lodging, transportation, and miscellaneous expenses.
Moreover, the CHED scholars in this program get enrolled in the National Health Insurance Program and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), for medical insurance.
According to Republic Act 11509, incoming second year medical students and those in the higher year levels of the Doctor of Medicine Program shall also be covered by the MSRS program.
“We now have more than 2,000 scholars through the Medical Scholarship and Return Service (MSRS), the medical scholarship program of the government,” De Vera noted.
CHED actually awarded and supported 2,689 scholars in AY 2023-2024. For the first semester of AY 2024-2025, they are targeting to have 2,635 scholars.
The CHED Medical Scholarship program is open to college students who are studying for the Doctor of Medicine in state universities and colleges. Those who qualify must be willing to join the Mandatory Scholarship Return Service (MSRS) Program.
The Commission opened 500 new slots for deserving students enrolled in SUCs offering Doctor of Medicine in AY 2024-2025.
The CHED-MSRS scholars use the funds for their tuition, for books, clothing or uniform, lodging, transportation, and miscellaneous expenses.
Moreover, the CHED scholars in this program get enrolled in the National Health Insurance Program and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), for medical insurance.
According to Republic Act 11509, incoming second year medical students and those in the higher year levels of the Doctor of Medicine Program shall also be covered by the MSRS program.
There were 190 graduating students from AY 2023-2024. They will render their mandatory postgraduate internship for one year before taking the Physician Licensure Examination.
“After they pass their licensure [exams], we can already deploy them in the far-flung communities,” De Vera said.
“We have increased the number of scholars every year. And we also increased the budget,” De Vera said.
For fiscal year (FY) 2025, the budget, based on the National Expenditure Program (NEP), amounted to P909,994
“But it’s not just the number of schools that are increasing. The equipment they use in the medical schools are also state of the art,” he added.
Levelling up with state-of-the-art equipment
Before, when one used to study in public medical schools, one had to use old and antiquated equipment,” De Vera noted. “The President’s instruction is to make sure our public universities have state-of-the-art equipment needed for quality education. Every year, we give new and high quality medical equipment to our schools. CHED has already given more than one billion pesos (P1B) worth of medical equipment to our medical schools.”
Today, “in our medical programs, the medical equipment [being] used in the classrooms in public universities [are] the same as in the top private universities in the country.”
Next year, he said, “We [will target giving] about P150 million worth of medical equipment to our medical schools.” He emphasized that “It is only under this administration that [this] has happened.”
“You should see the faces of the medical students…given the opportunity, not only to get quality medical education, but also to have access to high-fidelity mannequins, plastinated cadavers and equipment, which were never available in our public medical schools before. Even…[the University of the Philippines]…used to have only human cadavers”, he said.
“Now, they’re using plastinated cadavers, high-fidelity mannequins that they can practice on, in all the schools that we open. Ang mga bata ay tuwang-tuwa. Dahil dati, pinagpa-praktisan nila [ang] pasyente. Now you can practice with the mannequin. Even if you keep making mistakes, no one will get hurt.”
De Vera added that the “instructions of the president [are] clear, and funding is made available.”
“Whatever the government identifies as critical needs, we automatically convert them into programs for swift implementation,” he said.#
