Wanted: More college of medicine programs in SUCs, says Libanan 

4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Here's a way to help increase the number of doctors that the Philippines badly needs. 

House Minority Leader 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan wants the country’s state universities and colleges (SUCs) to establish their own medical schools so that they can produce more doctors to help the public healthcare system. 

“Congress must enable highly advanced SUCs, particularly those in the provinces, to put up their own medical schools where tuition fees are at least partly paid for by the state,” Libanan said in a statement Sunday, March 25. 

“Very few Filipino families can afford to send their children to private medical schools that are very expensive. This is one of the reasons why we are not producing enough doctors,” he noted. 

Only seven of 116 SUCs in the country have a college of medicine. 

“We must improve access to state-subsidized medical schooling if we want to produce a greater number of Doctor of Medicine graduates in the years ahead,” Libanan said in further justifying his call. 

The minority leader gave these remarks as he batted for the immediate passage of his bill seeking to establish the Eastern Samar State University (ESSU) College of Medicine. 

As proposed by Libanan in House Bill (HB) No. 9872, the new college of medicine would be formed in the Borongan City campus of the ESSU, the second-largest SUC in Eastern Visayas by student population. 

Libanan previously served as representative of Eastern Samar’s lone congressional district for nine years. He is now 4Ps Party-list representative. 

The SUCs currently offering the Doctor of Medicine program are: Mariano Marcos State University, University of Northern Philippines, Cagayan State University, Bicol University, West Visayas State University, University of the Philippines, and Mindanao State University. 

Based on Department of Health (DOH) data, the country’s doctor-to-population ratio is only around 3.6 doctors for every 10,000 people. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), the ideal ratio is one doctor for every 1,000 people.