TACLOBAN CITY — A plan to establish a medical school in Eastern Samar moved closer to reality after the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education approved a bill for its creation.

House Minority Leader and 4Ps Partylist Representative Marcelino Libanan, the principal author of House Bill No. 112, hailed the approval, stating that a medical school in his province would expand access to medical education for underprivileged but deserving students and help ease the persistent shortage of doctors.

“The proposed medical school is not just an educational project — it is a healthcare intervention,” Libanan said. “We simply do not have enough doctors in the country, and the shortages are most alarming in rural areas such as Eastern Samar.”

Under the bill, the new college of medicine will be established at the main campus of Eastern Samar State University (ESSU) in Borongan City.

Libanan stressed that the bill is a strategic, urgent, and necessary step toward building a stronger, fairer healthcare system for the province and the country.

The Philippines currently has only 7.9 physicians per 10,000 population, which is below the commonly referenced benchmark of 10 per 10,000.

Many regions in the country fall even lower, and provinces like Eastern Samar remain severely underserved, he added.

The proposed ESSU College of Medicine will offer a Doctor of Medicine program focused on learner-centered, competency-based training. It will also feature scholarships and affirmative-action programs for students from low-income families.

“Once the state-subsidized medical school is established, we expect it to make medical education far more accessible, particularly to students whose families cannot afford private schooling,” Libanan said.