The government pandemic task force has allowed the University of the Philippines-College of Medicine to resume its face-to-face clinical internship program.
The state medical school has been exempted from the present community quarantine guidelines that prohibit face-to-face classes to curb the spread of the pandemic. The latest decision was reached by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases during an online meeting Thursday.
"The IATF approved the resumption of the face-to-face clinical internship program of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine," Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement.
"The Philippine General Hospital will conduct this face-to-face program," he added.
In Resolution No. 82, the IATF ratified the decision of its technical working group to allow the UPCM's face-to-face internship program at the PGH. The premier government hospital, located in Manila, is among the major health facilities providing care for coronavirus patients.
The task force said the internship program will be allowed "as an exception in the application of the pertinent provisions of the Omnibus Guidelines in the Implementation of Community Quarantine in the Philippines as amended and such other issuances as may have been issued by the Commission on Higher Education.”
To ensure the safety and welling of students amid the coronavirus pandemic, the government has suspended face-to-face or in-person classes and instead promoted alternative learning methods. Instead of physically going to schools, the students attend classes through distance learning methods such as online, printed modules, or radio and television-based instruction.
President Duterte earlier ruled out the traditional face-to-face classes until the coronavirus vaccine is developed to protect the students.