La Union to open first medical school; prov’l district hospitals cited

By Jun Elias and Red Mendoza

AGOO, La Union — The first medical school in this province will start accepting enrollees by December.
Commission on Higher Education Chairman Prospero de Vera approved the opening of the school at the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMSU) in this town, according to La Union second district Rep. Dante Garcia.
    ”DMMSU will start accepting students for schoolyear 2023-2024,” Garcia said.
    He said a budget of P180 million for the construction of the medical school building and P120 million for its operations was allocated.
    The establishment of the medical school is provided under House Bill 2807, which Garcia authored.
    The bill was approved by the House committee on higher and technical education last month.
    In Ilocos region, only La Union has no medical school.
    This, as La Union’s district hospitals were awarded with Integrated Management System (IMS) certification awards, the first ever province in the country to house hospitals that passed IMS standards.
    Balaoan District Hospital, Bacnotan District Hospital, Caba District Hospital, Naguilian District Hospital, Rosario District Hospital and La Union Medical Center were audited for IMS standards after passing different standards, including ISO 9001:2015 or the Quality Management System, ISO 14001:2015 or the Environmental Management System, and ISO 45001:2018 or the Occupational Health and Safety Management System.
    The awards were given by Rannie Bernardino, the lead editor of National Quality Assurance Philippines, and were received by La Union Gov. Raphaelle Veronica Ortega-David, and hospital chiefs of the different district hospitals in the province earlier this month.
    The La Union provincial government said among the good points emphasized by the auditors include the commendable commitment by the top management and staff in implementing IMS, detailed SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis and risk registry, commendable presentation of records and documents, and competency of all workers with a valid license from the Professional Regulations Commission.
    The auditors also commended the compliance of hospitals which were evident in how they ensured that all rules and regulations were followed and the requirements needed were provided.