PH Red Cross supports 8 UP Manila students through med school

NEW SCHOLARS. PRC chair and CEO Richard Gordon and UPM chancellor Dr. Michael Tee signed a memorandum of agreement on Monday at the UPM College of Medicine to formalize the partnership in providing the scholarship for the eight students, who shall complete the Doctor of Medicine-Master of Public Health (MD-MPH) double degree program. Also part of the signatories of the MOA were UPM College of Public Health dean Dr. Fernando Garcia Jr. and UPM College of Medicine Dr. Charlotte Chiong, as well as PRC secretary general Dr. Gwendolyn Pang and PRC vice chair Corazon Alma de Leon. PHOTO FROM PRC

MANILA, Philippines — Eight students of the University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) who are aiming to earn double degrees as medical doctors and public health practitioners are the newest recipients of the medical scholarship program of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC).

The eight new scholars are Pauline Angela Abu, Charmaine Khaye Alba, Ceidy Joyce Balubal, Czariss Dale Grace Bedoya, Haggai Elisha Facon, Mary Hazel Florita, Rona Angela Grindulo, and Wade Montgomery Rosales. They belong to the second batch of the PRC’s scholarship program, which provides educational support for poor students taking up medicine and aims to strengthen the healthcare system in the country.

READ: PH Red Cross supporting 12 medicine scholars

PRC chair and CEO Richard Gordon and UPM Chancellor, Dr. Michael Tee, signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA)on Monday at the UPM College of Medicine to formalize the partnership. The scholars are expected complete the Doctor of Medicine-Master of Public Health (MD-MPH) double degree program.

Also among the MOA signatories were Dr. Fernando Garcia Jr., College of Public Health dean, and Dr. Charlotte Chiong, College of Medicine dean, as well as PRC secretary general Gwendolyn Pang and PRC vice chair Corazon Alma de Leon.

Return service

Each scholar will receive the following benefits for the entire three academic years of the MPH component of the dual degree program: free tuition, free board and lodging, as well as allowances for transportation, and miscellaneous fees for first and second phases of integrated field practice.

UPM’s MD-MPH students Czariss Dale Grace Bedoya, Mary Hazel Florita, Haggai Elisha Facon, and Wade Montgomery Rosales were among the four recipients of the PRC’s Medical Scholarship Program. Also named new scholars were Pauline Angela Abu, Charmaine Khaye Alba, Ceidy Joyce Balubal, Rona Angela Grindulo. PHOTO FROM PRC

After becoming full-fledged doctors, they need to give one year of return service, for every year of scholarship, in PRC stations in the country.

Gordon challenged the students to become “extraordinary citizens,” saying that compassion for the people they comfort and heal, along with their research for new medicine, should be at the heart of their work.

“Do not forget your values of kusang-loob (volunteerism), malasakit (compassion) and kapwa-tao (inclusivity),” he added.

Gordon is hoping the PRC scholarship program will help address the lack of doctors in the country.

Earlier, the Department of Health said the country was short of 114,000 doctors to serve more than 110 million Filipinos.