Officials of the Cebu Normal University (CNU) and Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) intended to continue and strengthen their collaboration in bringing about a better program for the CNU–VSMMC College of Medicine.
This was the gist of the meeting held by CNU President Dr. Daniel Ariaso Sr. and VSMMC chief of hospital Dr. Gerardo Aquino Jr. in the presence of Gov. Gwen Garcia at the Capitol on March 25.
Established in 2021 at the height of the pandemic, the CNU-VSMMC College of Medicine is the first government-funded medical school in Central Visayas with a scholarship and return of service program prescribed under the “Doktor Para sa Bayan Act” or RA 11509.
Signed by former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2020, the “Doktor Para sa Bayan Act” enables qualified students to study medicine for free at CNU-VSMMC College of Medicine. In return, after becoming full-fledged doctors, they will serve in government hospitals in their hometowns for a certain number of years.
The program is intended to address the shortage of physicians in rural and underserved areas in Central Visayas, where the doctor-to-population ratio currently stands at 3.1 doctors for every 10,000 people.
Gov. Gwen lauds the collaborative stance between the two government institutions that are at the top of their individual fields, exhibiting excellence in the performance of their public-oriented mandate not only locally but in the national scale as well.
This year, the pioneering batch of CNU–VSMMC is already in its fourth year of studies, as the school welcomes the application of another batch of medical scholars beginning March 18.
The meeting was also attended by former CNU president Dr. Filomena Dayagbil and CNU VP for Administration Dr. Joseph Elvir Tubilan. | Mary Ann Malaya