LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Benguet State University will open its first Doctor of Medicine program this school year following approval from the Commission on Higher Education.
Dr. Serafin L. Ngohayan, regional director of CHED in the Cordillera Administrative Region announced the program’s launch on June 18 during the 14th Regional Health Research Conference after confirming confirming that BSU has met the requirements to admit its first medical students.
“We can start with that program for this school year. The required one classroom for their start is already filled with enrollees,” said Ngohayan.
The BSU College of Medicine was established under Republic Act 11970, authored by Benguet Rep. Eric Go Yap, to help address the shortage of medical professionals in the Philippines.
Based on the data from the Second Congressional Commission on Education, or EDCOM II, the country lacks 94,000 doctors and 196,000 nurses needed to meet baseline healthcare standards while the
World Health Organization also projects a global shortage of 11 million health workers by 2030.
BSU is the first state university in the Cordillera Administrative Region to offer a medical degree with their program includes a scholarship framework with dedicated slots for students from Benguet, Abra, Ifugao, Apayao, Kalinga, Mountain Province and Baguio.
Under a return-service agreement, scholars must practice medicine in their home municipalities after graduation.
Ngohayan urged other local government units to support the initiative through funding.
“We have to use that to challenge the other provinces to offer the same scholarship for students enrolling in the BSU’s Doctor of Medicine course,” Ngohayan said. John Larry ‘Lala Dy’ Agtarap | UC Intern
