Vice presidential aspirant and Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday said fast-tracking the free Doctor of Medicine program will put “more doctors in the country, more than lawyers”.

Sotto, who authored the Republic Act 11509, also known as Doktor Para sa Bayan Act, that establishes a medical scholarship and return of service program for deserving students, visited the Cebu Normal University (CNU) and the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) to speed up the implementation of the consortium between the two institutions that will implement the program.

CNU and VSMMC entered into a consortium agreement for the rollout of the free medicine proper to students in Cebu and nearby provinces in the region who wish to become doctors under this state scholarship program.

“I am the principal author of the Doktor Para sa Bayan program… I want more doctors in the country, more than lawyers,” Sotto said in a press briefing after his dialogue with the CNU-VSMMC medical course’s faculty members at the 120-year-old university’s auditorium for its College of Nursing.

In Cebu, there were only 2,051 doctors in active practice as of 2017. Of the total, 72 percent is in this capital city, which left a little over 500 doctors actively serving in the province, with only one in some towns.

After talking with CNU president Joselito Gutierrez, College of Medicine dean Dr. Ma. Socorro Manaloto, VSMMC director Dr. Gerardo Aquino Jr., and the professors, Sotto went to VSMMC to inspect the facility where the first 50 students comprising the first batch tagged as “Batch Primacordis” (first heart) will have their actual medical studies.

“In the 2022 budget, we made sure that CNU-VSMMC consortium can have more than PHP98 million for the operation of the school,” Sotto said, adding the amount will be the consortium’s annual budget.

RA 11509 or the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Dec. 23, 2020 to provide medical scholarships to deserving students in state universities and colleges (SUC), or in partnership with private higher education institutions in regions where no medical course has been offered.

For 2022, the Doktor Para sa Bayan program has a total budget of PHP2.6 billion to be shared by 16 SUCs offering the College of Medicine program.

However, seven regions have no SUCs offering medicine proper.

Apart from CNU-VSMMC, Western Mindanao State University in Zamboanga City is also offering free medical course program under the law.

Manaloto, for her part, said the consortium will aim for excellence and intends to be accredited with the country’s leading accrediting firm for universities and colleges offering medicine proper.

“I am very happy about it. It’s a milestone in my political and legislative carrier. I have been a senator for 24 years. I have principally authored and principally sponsored 244 laws that are beneficial to the entire country… but I’m very proud of this. This (Doktor Para sa Bayan program) is so close to my heart,” said Sotto, adding he skipped his campaign sortie to Cebu province’s northern city of Bogo just to ensure that the implementation is up and running.

Sotto and Senator Panfilo Lacson are running for vice president and president, respectively, in next month’s polls. (PNA)