Barring any hitches, the Bohol Island State University (BISU) will be opening the province’s first medical school in August this year.

The BISU College of Medicine will be accepting at least 50 scholars as the inaugural batch of first year medical students who will hold classes in a new facility inside the Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital (GCGMH) compound in Tagbilaran City, said First District Rep. Edgar Chatto who conceptualized the initiative to establish a medical school in the province.

According to Chatto, Phase 2 of the GCGMH’s expansion project was designed to accommodate classrooms and other facilities for the medical school.

“Kanang Phase 2 was redesigned to be the college of medicine with classrooms and an auditorium unya expected na mahuman by May this year,” Chatto said.

According to Chatto, P50 million was earmarked for the BISU College of Medicine through the 2021 National Budget.

CHED also set aside P150 million for medical schools which BISU and other institutions are entitled to access once their applications are approved.

BISU president Regucibilla Pobar in a Zoom meeting with Chatto and GCGMH medical chief Dr. Mutya Tirol-Macuno on Monday said that they are already finalizing the course syllabus, listing of equipment and instructional devices, and the drafting and approval of admission guidelines.

The GCGMH and BISU had earlier formed a technical working group to work on the school’s compliance with the requirements set by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Chatto said that based on Pobar’s report, BISU is expected to complete all the documentary requirements by this month.

“Naa na sila sa ilang development sa ilang curriculum ug identification sa ilang dean ug faculty,” he said.

BISU is now hiring faculty members, other staff and a dean for the college.

So far, several physicians have applied to work part time but the school would also be needing fulltime instructors as part of the requirements set by CHED.

Meanwhile, the two other universities of the province, Holy Name University and the University of Bohol, have also worked with BISU in establishing the program and its admission protocol.

Chatto said that top-performing premed students of the universities will be among the priority candidates for admission at the new medical school.

“Sa meeting namo with HNU and UB, ang sabot sa tulo ka universities, BISU ang mo-grant sa medical degree unya ang mga preparatory medicine courses like nursing, psychology, medtech naa sa private universities, so ang ilang outstanding premed students didto mao na silay mo sud sa BISU,” he said.

The former governor expressed optimism that BISU’s new program will help fill medical posts across the province including in Rural Health Units in towns and the various hospitals of the province.

“Makatabang ni og strengthen ang college of medicine nga ma-suplyan g’yud og Boholano homegrown physicians ang atong mga hospitals dinhi sa Bohol,” he said.

Chatto noted that the establishment of the school is also intended to support Governor Art Yap’s flagship program to improve the province’s healthcare system through hospital modernization.

It was Chatto who presented the plan of establishing a medical school in Bohol to the province’s universities last year.

He sought the support of University of the Philippines president Danny Concepcion, CHED chairman Popoy De Vera, Philippine Regulatory Commission chair Teofilo Pilando, the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges and health Sec. Francisco Duque. (A. Doydora)