A bill seeking to establish a scholarship program for deserving medical students is one step away from hurdling the Senate as the upper chamber approved the measure on 2nd reading on Tuesday, September 8.

Senate Bill No. 1520, also called the “Doktor para sa Bayan” (Doctor for the Towns) bill, institutionalizes a medical scholarship program in state universities and colleges and in private higher educational institutions in regions without SUCs.

The scholarship will be open to “deserving and qualified aspiring, new, and continuing medical students” – whose families are unable to send them to medical school.

The proposed measure includes “mandatory return service” of medical scholars. This means successful beneficiaries of the program, once licensed as physicians, will be required to practice at a government hospital or public health office in their hometown, province, or region. If the scholar’s hometown presents a threat to their safety, they may carry out their mandatory service in an “underserved” municipality to be determined by the Department of Health.

Scholars of the program will be required to serve in the public health system for as many years as they availed of the scholarship. This way, the government hopes to supply every town in the Philippines with at least one doctor, even as it provides students from low-income families an opportunity to enter the medical profession.

The bill was principally authored by Senators Vicente Sotto III, Ralph Recto, and Joel Villanueva. It was sponsored at the Senate plenary by Villanueva.

During discussions on the proposed measure, senators noted that many young Filipinos are discouraged from aspiring to become doctors because of the restrictive cost of tuition in medical school.

Under the proposed scholarship measure, the government will cover the qualified students’ tuition and other school fees, allowances for prescribed books, equipment, and uniforms, cost of transportation or dormitory, internship fees, as well as medical board review and licensure fees.

The bill will be up for 3rd and final reading at the Senate next week. Its counterpart measure in the House of Representatives was approved on 3rd and final reading on August 10. – Rappler.com