GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/12 March) — City officials are pushing for the opening of medical courses at the Mindanao State University (MSU) campus here as they continue to build up the area as an alternative education hub.
In a resolution, the city council specifically requested the MSU System though its president, Dr. Macapado Muslim, to establish a College of Medicine at its campus in Barangay Tambler in the next two years.
They also asked MSU General Santos chancellor Abdurrahman Canacan to look into the possibility of offering of medical courses and other related disciplines at the university.
City Councilor Rosalita Nunez, chair of the council’s committee on education, said Wednesday the move is mainly in response to a growing clamor among local residents, especially from parents who want to enroll their children in medical schools and related institutions.
“Most of them are hesitant to send their children to medical schools in other places like Davao, Cebu and Manila because of financial constraints,” she said.
Nunez, who authored the resolution, said opening a College of Medicine in the city will pave the way for the emergence of more doctors and medical workers from the area.
She said such scenario will not only benefit the city but other areas in Region 12 and the neighboring regions as well.
Region 12, which is also known as the Soccsksargen Region, comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong and Cotabato.
“It will help address the shortage of medical practitioners and related allied services in the area,” Nunez said.
The official said the establishment of a medical school in the city will allow nursing graduates and those of other related courses to take up medicine without leaving the city or going to other areas like Davao or Cebu.
She said it will also attract and encourage more students from other regions to study in the city.
The MSU campus here was established in 1967 as an extension of the main university campus in Marawi City and eventually became the system’s flagship unit in southwestern Mindanao.
MSU General Santos is composed of 10 colleges and units: the College of Law; College of Agriculture; College of Business Administration and Accountancy; College of Education; College of Engineering; College of Fisheries; College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; School of Graduate Studies; and laboratory high school of the College of Education’s training department.
The MSU system has a College of Medicine based at the Iligan Institute of Technology campus in Iligan City. (MindaNews)