The Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital was recently granted by the Philippine College of Physicians provisional accreditation status in its Internal Medicine residency training program, a first for a government hospital in the Province.
“It has long been a dream for NOPH to establish an accredited training program; it is only now that the Department was able to meet all the requirements and [be] granted accreditation,” said Dr. Davie Villanueva, chairperson of Internal Medicine.
The Philippine College of Physicians conducted in January this year an inspection of the NOPH Wards, Intensive Care Units, Emergency Rooms, and the Outpatient Department. They also interviewed with the resident doctors and the training core.
The new accreditation status now allows NOPH to implement a training program for doctors to become internists.
“Our resident trainees now are medical scholars of the Province. This program aims to train young doctors to become specialists, and in the future, they can help the entire Provincial Health System improve further the quality of patient care, and hopefully decongest the NOPH,” Dr. Villanueva said.
The curriculum of the training program, guided by the Philippine College of Physicians, is the standard of quality care for the patients. “This will give the assurance of patient management from trained physicians,” said NOPH Chief Dr. Marc Angelo Llosa, one of the main proponents of the program.
“This is the first time ever this [training program] has happened in NOPH. Essentially what it means, and what it provides for the patient is better care, better services, and more affordable healthcare [compared to private hospitals],”said Dr. Gabriel Vincent Po, one of the six residents in the pioneering batch of the training program.
The process of achieving the accreditation has been long and tedious, recalled to Dr. Villanueva.
The concept began 39 years ago in 1985 as a consortium among the NOPH, Holy Child Hospital, and the Silliman University Medical Center. Due to technical issues, however, the idea fell through; eventually, only SUMC was given the go signal to conduct a training program in Internal Medicine.
Dr. Villanueva acknowledged the support of Gov. Chaco Sagarbarría, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Liland Estacion, and NOPH Administrative Officer Mark Vinson Arbolado;
Training officers Dr. Kristine Gayle Pastorpile and Dr. Venus Saceda; and the training core: General IM and sub-specialty consultants, and the Nursing Service staff.
Dr. Villanueva said the screening process for the three-year residency training program for 2025 will start by the fourth quarter this year. (Tyrashelvy Villamil/SU Masscom)
