THE Commission on Higher Education said its recent decision lifting the 11-year moratorium on the opening of nursing programs will be a big boost to the Marcos administration’s efforts to strengthen the country’s healthcare system amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
CHED Chair Prospero De Vera said the Commission fully supports the administration’s prioritization of the healthcare system, including the building of specialty hospitals in different regions of the country.
Marcos Jr., in his first State of the Nation Address last July 25, said one of the cornerstones of a strong healthcare system is the provision of competent and efficient medical professionals, and his administration will exert all efforts to improve the welfare of doctors, nurses, and other medical frontliners.
De Vera, who was reappointed by Marcos, said the CHED would do its part to fulfill the administration’s objective.
“CHED is facilitating the production of the critical manpower for the President’s plan to build specialty hospitals all over the country. Through the Doktor Para sa Bayan Law, we have authorized the opening of ‘new’ medical programs in seven universities and recently lifted the 11-year moratorium on the offering of new nursing programs in higher education institutions,” De Vera said.
“These new medical and nursing programs will produce the additional doctors and nurses that will man these new hospitals four to five years from now,” De Vera added.
