Angara bill wants hospitals put up in every SUC offering medical degrees

Senator Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara has filed a measure seeking to establish a hospital in every state university and college (SUC) in the country offering a medical degree.

Under Senate Bill 1850 or the Healthcare Facility Augmentation Act, Angara proposes that each hospital will have a bed capacity of not less than 50 beds within the grounds of the SUCs.

Graduates of medical degrees in SUCs who availed of government scholarship programs will also be required to render return service in the hospital of the SUC where they obtained their degree.

Nine SUCs currently offer medical degrees --  University of Northern Philippines, Mariano Marcos State University, University of the Philippines- Leyte, Cagayan State University, Mindanao State University- General Santos, Bicol University, West Visayas State University,  Mindanao State University- Marawi, and University of the Philippines-Manila

The SUC hospitals will also serve as a training ground for the medical students, seen to cater to the need for hospitals as Angara said there are only 6.1 beds for every 10,000 Filipinos on average.

"SUCs, as they are funded by the national government and are deemed the most accessible higher educational institution to the general public, should take up the cudgels of ensuring that their own regions would have enough medical manpower to be ready for existing and emerging health services needs of the country," he said. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/RSJ, GMA News