BONTOC, Mountain Province -- In efforts to address the shortage of medical doctors in the government-run hospitals in the province, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) here enacted an ordinance establishing the Mountain Province Medical Doctors Scholarship Program.
The SP noted for the past years, there was a constant change of medical practitioners particularly at the Paracelis and Barlig District Hospitals with the doctors serving for just a couple of years and then resign or transfer to other hospitals causing a problem in the delivery of health services to the people.
Under the Medical Doctors Scholarship Program, the provincial government will shoulder the actual cost of the grantee’s tuition fees inclusive of laboratory fees but not to exceeding P50,000. Tuition and other fees will be paid directly to the school where the grantee is enrolled.
The program also provides a book allowance of P10,000 per semester which will be released on the first month of each semester; uniform allowance of P4,000 per year; a monthly living subsidies of P10,000 for five months on each semester which will include lodging and transportation expenses.
Applicants to the medical scholarship program will include fresh enrollees to the medical course, including first and second year medical students.
Applicants must have passed the National Medical Admission Test (NMAT), must have at least a general weighted average of 85 percent or its equivalent in his/her preparatory course, must be a native and a resident of Mountain Province, must be mentally and physically fit, must be of good moral character, must not be more 35 years old upon admission, and the combined annual income of applicant’s parents must not be more than P360,000. He must also pass the required interview.
Applicants are required to submit transcript of record, birth certificate, certified true copy of NMAT rating, income tax return of parents or the applicant itself for the two immediate preceding years, certificate of residency from the barrage concerned or voter’s identification, medical certification of physical fitness, and at least two certificates of good moral character from any of the following: parish priest, barangay chairman or any respected elder in the community where the applicant resides.
All applications together with the required documents will be submitted to the provincial governor which will transmit the same to the Committee for Assessment which is composed of the Provincial Health Officer as the chairman.
Members of the Committee include the Assistant Provincial Health Officer, Chairman of the SP Committee on Health, and the Provincial Human Resource and Management Office.
Grantee under this scholarship program with failing grades; who refuses to continue his/her schooling; who failed the board examination thrice; and for other justifiable grounds like dishonesty, any other form of gross misconduct or other acts inimical to the interest of the provincial government shall cause the forfeiture and termination of the grantee from the program. (Juliet Saley/PIA - CAR)