DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 7 May)—The University of the Philippines Mindanao (UPMin) will open its College of Medicine hopefully in the next academic year.
Lawyer Angelo Jimenez, the incumbent university president, said in a press conference at the UPMin campus in Mintal here Tuesday morning that the university intends to fast-track the establishment of the College of Medicine.
“We want it very fast… hopefully by next year,” he said. He added that the college, even without a building of its own in the meantime, will probably be adopted by the Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies (DBSES) under the College of Science and Mathemathics.
Jimenez said they are confident of putting up the new college smoothly, even if they have to rent some buildings temporarily.
“We’ll probably use the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC),” he added. Jimenez said they are arranging things together with the chair of the Commission on Higher Education, Dr. Prospero de Vera, himself a UP alumnus.
Jimenez emphasized the need for more quality and skilled doctors in Mindanao, citing the World Health Organization’s recommended doctor-to-person ratio of 1 is to 1,000. Latest data from the City Health Office here shows that Davao has a dismal 1:50,000 ratio as of 2023.
“We want to produce more local doctors from Mindanao. What we need to support is not just the health of our students but [UP’s] promotion of health in Mindanao,” he said.
The College of Medicine will complement the hospital that is currently being built inside the UPMin campus. In 2022, the city government of Davao started construction of its public hospital that will rise on a 3.28-hectare lot.
Jimenez said UPMin will have to fast-track the putting up of its own buildings in its 204-hectare campus so it could accommodate its target of 5,000 enrollees by 2029. UPMin currently has 1,400 students.
“We will get the budget,” he promised, but quick to note the “uncertainty what Congress will approve [because] it’s beyond our power.”
For this year, the UP System—which has eight constituent universities—has a budget of P24.771 billion, up from the P24.263 billion allocated in 2023.
“I know we need more facilities urgently, but to match our dreams we will not wait for those facilities. We will find interim means,” Jimenez said.
UPMin will launch its Master of Science in Biology adopted from the UP Diliman Institute of Biology by the academic year 2024-2025.
It will also launch new programs such as bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, associate in entrepreneurship, and an MS in Quantitative Methods and Modelling, a master’s degree designed to “upskill knowledge and skills of graduates in BS Applied Mathematics and BS Computer Science.” (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
