THE House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill establishing a new state-run college of medicine at Eastern Samar State University (ESSU) in Borongan City, a move expected to strengthen medical education and healthcare services in Eastern Visayas.
House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan said the planned ESSU College of Medicine would in due course pave the way for the creation of Eastern Samar’s first teaching hospital.
“Our vision is to eventually establish a teaching hospital alongside the new ESSU College of Medicine,” Libanan said in a statement.
“In addition to treating patients, the teaching hospital will serve as a practical learning environment for medical students, resident doctors, nursing and midwifery students, and other healthcare trainees,” Libanan added.
A teaching hospital is a hospital affiliated with a medical school that helps train future healthcare professionals while also providing patient care and conducting research.
“Teaching hospitals are different from community hospitals, which mainly focus on patient care and usually do less formal medical training and research,” Libanan pointed out.
“The teaching hospital under ESSU will be involved in three main areas — patient care, education, and research,” he said.
An example of a teaching hospital is the Philippine General Hospital in Manila. It is the primary teaching and training hospital of the University of the Philippines Manila and is officially designated as the country’s “National University Hospital.”
The proposed ESSU College of Medicine would primarily offer a Doctor of Medicine program featuring an integrated liberal arts and medicine curriculum composed of basic science and clinical courses. The program would adopt a learner-centered, competency-based, and community-oriented approach.
House Bill No. 8626, which seeks to establish the ESSU College of Medicine, was authored by Libanan and Eastern Samar Lone District Rep. Christopher Sheen Gonzales.
Libanan, a lawyer by profession, also holds a degree in medical technology. He previously represented Eastern Samar’s lone district in Congress for nine years.
The lone state university in Eastern Samar, ESSU currently serves nearly 25,000 students with 721 faculty members.
ESSU already operates a College of Nursing and Allied Sciences, which has earned recognition for the strong performance of its nursing and midwifery graduates in licensure examinations.
Aside from its main campus in the provincial capital of Borongan, ESSU also has campuses in the municipalities of Can-avid, Guiuan, Maydolong, and Salcedo, as well as extension units in Balangiga and Arteche.
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