Medical board topnotcher raring to join front line vs COVID-19

Jeremiah Lim

LUCENA CITY—For Jeremiah Lim, passing this year’s physician licensure examination is his ticket to return to the front line of the battle against the coronavirus pandemic that has been gripping the world for a year now.

Acing the annual medical board examination was an unexpected but a welcome development for the 27-year-old Lim, whose family lives in Pagbilao town, Quezon province.

Lim topped the medical board examination with a rating of 89.67 percent in the result released on March 19 by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). The PRC said 1,234 of 1,927 examiners passed, for a passing rate of 64 percent.

He finished his medical technology course and later earned his medical degree at the Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation, both with summa cum laude distinction.

‘Eye opener’

Once he receives his professional license as a physician, Lim says he will return to the University of the Philippines-run Philippine General Hospital in Manila, where he took his postgraduate internship from July 2019 to June 2020, to join its medical workforce.

“I must admit that, at first, I was afraid because this COVID-19 is no joke. But during this difficult time, the people need doctors. And I wanted to be counted in the front line,” he said in a recent phone interview.

With the start of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, the battle is no longer scary for Lim.

“I will get vaccinated once it is available for me. There are lots of data and information that the vaccine is safe and effective to prevent severe COVID-19,” he said.

He wants to specialize in internal medicine and work full-time in government hospitals despite the prospect of a lucrative career in private hospitals.

He said his experience with residents of a rural village in the town of Amadeo, Cavite province, during a community immersion before his graduation was an “eye-opener.”

Typical student

“I realized the sorry plight of most Filipinos in isolated areas. The lack of access to health care, to doctors in particular, is really depressing,” he said.

“I promised myself that if I become a doctor, I will devote myself to serving ordinary people in a government hospital,” Lim added.

Lim’s parents, Elmer Joseph and Annalisa, run a bakery in their village of Catalina.

“That’s our main source of livelihood since my elementary [school] years,” said Lim, the eldest of two sons.

Despite graduating with academic honors, Lim described himself as a typical student.

“During my early years in my medical degree, I was always sleepy even in class. After I finished my (medical technology) degree, I did not take the board. I (was) afraid to fail,” he said.

It was only during his junior year in medical school that he took his studies seriously, out of respect for his parents who wanted him to become a doctor.