A total of 1,421 aspiring doctors took the Physician Licensure Examination (PLE) last September 20 and 21, 2020 in different testing venues nationwide, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) said on Monday.
In a Facebook post, the PRC said participating regions were: National Capital Region with 822 examinees; CAR (Baguio) with 63 examinees; Region II (Tuguegarao) with 48 examinees; Region IV-A (Lucena) with 33 examinees; Region V (Legaspi) with 52 examinees; Region VI (Iloilo) with 50 examinees; Region VII (Cebu) with 124 examinees; Region VIII (Tacloban) with 27 examinees; Region IX (Zamboanga) with 58 examinees; Region X (Cagayan De Oro) with 53 examinees; and Region XI (Davao) with 91 examinees.
The PRC said the conduct of the second part of the March, 2020, PLE was in response to the call of the Department of Health (DOH) for additional Medical Doctors to augment the need during a pandemic.
"As the results will soon be released after completing the necessary processes, passers will surely augment the shortage of healthcare professionals attending to COVID-19 cases in the country," said the commission.
"While the health crisis has forced PRC to make crucial decisions as regards licensure examinations, it will remain faithful to its mission to deliberately, scientifically, and consistently determine the competence of professionals such as those who will be called Medical Doctors," added the PRC.
The PRC and the Professional Regulatory Board of Medicine (PRB-MED) made sure that the required health and safety protocols including the minimum health standards set by the Inter-Agency Task Force and the DOH were strictly observed during the conduct of the PLE to guarantee the safety of the examinees and the examination personnel.
This is in addition to other preparatory measures done by the PRC which includes the conduct of mandatory COVID-19 confirmatory testing to all PRC personnel who will serve as examination personnel and conduct public information drive on the requirements of the PLE through tri-media involvement.
The PRC said the success of the PLE was made possible through the assistance and support of the participating PRC Regional Offices, the Department of Health, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP), Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, LGUs, participating government hospitals, and other relevant government and private organizations.