Senators push for more public med schools to produce additional 80K doctors

The Philippines needs to open more public medical schools to produce more doctors within a decade, several senators said on Monday as they tackled a bill seeking to provide medical scholarship to Filipinos.

Senator Joel Villanueva, sponsoring Senate Bill No. 1520 or the proposed "Medical Scholarship Act," stressed that the country is lacking 80,000 more physicians to meet the ideal doctor-to-population ratio of 10:10,000.

He said there are over 84,662 licensed doctors in the Philippines but only 28,428 are practicing in the country—the rest were "unaccounted for."

They are either practicing abroad or not exercising their profession, Villanueva said.

Of those in active practice in the Philippines, more than 10,000 are located in the National Capital Region while the rest are distributed in other parts of the country.

"In ARMM, there are only 307 physicians in the autonomous region," he added.

The current doctor to population ratio in the country is 3:10,000, and about 4,000 new medical students graduate every year—around 3,000 of whom become physicians, according to Villanueva.

He said the bill seeks to increase the number of medical graduates four-fold to 12,165 every year for the next 10 years to reach the ideal ratio until 2030.

There are currently 55 medical schools in the country, and only the following nine are public:

• Bicol University in Daraga, Albay
• Cagayan State University in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan
• Mariano Marcos State University in Batac, Ilocos Norte
• Mindanao State University in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur
• University of Northern Philippines in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur
• University of the Philippines Manila
• University of the Philippines in Palo, Leyte
• West Visayas State University in La Paz, Iloilo City
• Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

Villanueva said that there are no medical schools at all in some regions of the country including Mimaropa, SOCCSKSARGEN, and Caraga.

"I think in policy direction, we should have more public schools offering medical course. We should encourage and support more medical schools in our public universities," Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said.

Villanueva agreed and added that three more state universities are currently applying to be allowed to teach medicine.

Senator Sonny Angara, meanwhile, raised that aside from opening more public medical schools, the lack of training hospitals should also be addressed.

Senator Cynthia Villar suggested to mandate under the bill that each region should have at least one state university that offers medicine, in coordination with hospitals operated by the Department of Health (DOH).

"We can pinpoint sino na ang ating SUCs na papartneran ng ating DOH-operated hospitals para magtayo sila ng medical school," she said.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, one of the authors of the bill said it is imperative to make these medical schools accessible by first offering scholarships to qualified aspirants.

"Bakit may mga region walang medical school? Ang isang dahilan is because walang pumapasok, mahal. Gustong gusto mag-doktor ng mga bata, hindi kaya ng magulang kaya ibang course ang pinapasukan," he said.

"So first things first, gawin nating libre ang pagdodoktor ng Pilipino, magtatayo ng eskwelahan 'yung iba at magkakaroon ng eskwelahan," he added.

Each medical student would need around P360,000 per year, according to Villanueva.

For the 2020 national budget, P512 million was earmarked for medical scholarships under the DOH and the Commission on Higher Education, he added.

The passage of the proposed measure is seen to institutionalize a bigger budget for medical scholarships in the coming years. — BM, GMA News