TACLOBAN CITY — Eastern Samar is moving closer to its goal of opening a medical school in the province after a bill establishing a state-run college of medicine at Eastern Samar State University in Borongan City was approved on third and final reading at the House of Representatives.

Marcelino Libanan, House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list representative, said that once enacted into law, the measure would strengthen medical education and healthcare services in Eastern Visayas.

Libanan, who co-authored the bill with Eastern Samar Rep. Christopher Sheen Gonzales, said the proposed ESSU College of Medicine would eventually pave the way for the establishment of Eastern Samar’s first teaching hospital.

“Our vision is to eventually establish a teaching hospital alongside the new ESSU College of Medicine,” Libanan said in a statement.

He said that aside from treating patients, the teaching hospital would serve as a practical learning environment for medical students, resident doctors, nursing and midwifery students, and other healthcare trainees.

A teaching hospital is affiliated with a medical school and helps train future healthcare professionals while also providing patient care and conducting research, unlike community hospitals that primarily focus on patient care.

“The teaching hospital under ESSU will be involved in three main areas — patient care, education, and research,” he said.

The lone state university in Eastern Samar, ESSU currently serves nearly 25,000 students and has 721 faculty members.

ESSU already operates a College of Nursing and Allied Sciences, which has gained recognition for the strong performance of its nursing and midwifery graduates in licensure examinations.

Aside from its main campus in Borongan City, ESSU also has campuses in the municipalities of Can-avid, Guiuan, Maydolong, and Salcedo, as well as extension units in Balangiga and Arteche.