Topnotcher says he’ll be a doctor for the poor

SCHOLARSHIPS, focus and determination to be a doctor got Cyrus Cesar Rodiguez Tejam this far.

He was in class in the Cebu Institute of Medicine yesterday afternon when his cellphone rang. He waited for class to finish before taking the call.

“It was my classmate who called to tell me that I landed in tenth place in the Nursing Licensure Exam. I was very very happy”, said the 20-year-old medical student from B. Aranas Street, Duljo-Fatima, Cebu City.

Tejam, a graduate of Cebu Normal University (CNU), said he didn’t expect to ace the exam with an 83.80 percent rating because he took the board while he was busy with classes in the College of Medicine.

Tejam said he has no plans to work abroad, and that his priority was to help poor patients.

“I’d love to work here and serve the poor,” Tejam said.

Tejam, the eldest of three children, was able to finish college and nursing school on scholarships and a study-now-pay-later program of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

His father Arthur works at the Shangri-La Resort in Lapu-Lapu City while his mother Anabela is a housewife.

Tejam finished his elementary years at CNU then went on to Cebu City Science High School.

The CNU scholarship was limited to P15,000 per semester. The CHED program provided P7,500 every semester.

Nursing was a stepping stone to medicine, so Tejam applied for and was accepted for a full scholarship of CIM in its Faculty Development Scholarship Program right after graduating from nursing school in March.

Right after the nursing board exam on June 30 and July 1, he had an exam in medicine classes the following morning.

“It was very difficult for me but I did it because I want to be a doctor. That’s my dream,” he said./Correspondent Jhunnex Napallacan