The Bicol University – College of Medicine

VISION : The BUCM aspires to be the leader in transformative and integrative medical education. It seeks to develop doctors who are active agents of health systems transformation toward self-sustaining and resilient communities.

MISSION :

1. To produce physicians with transformative qualities ready to serve the local and global communities;
2. To undertake research that evolves measures and models of response to health issues and challenges sensitive to anthro-socio-medical realities in Bicol; and
3. To extend proactive services in health education, disaster preparedness and environmental sustainability programs that will develop healthy communities.

Historical Highlights:

The establishment of a medical school in Bicol University was part of the University’s Comprehensive Development Plan 2004-13. Support for this undertaking was made thru the Regional Development Council in its 2009 and 2012 resolutions, and some political leaders. On July 27, 2010, the Academic Council of BU approved the curriculum of the Doctor of Medicine Program crafted by an ad-hoc team composed of the Vice Presidents and BU-College of Nursing faculty who did bench-marking of some medical schools in the country.

On September 3, 2012, the BU Board of Regents approved the proposal to open the College of Medicine. A week later, a three-person team of the CHED’s Technical Panel for Health Professional Education and Technical Committee on Medical Education, and Professional Regulation Commission visited BU and recommended that the medical school heed the world-wide call for transformative education to develop Five-star physicians.

From the latter part of 2012 to 2013, there was a series of planning workshops involving stakeholders from the Region and the University: DOH, LGUs, medical profession, faculty, and consultants from Manila to come up with, among others, the Vision and Mission, syllabi, and having a Master’s program along with the MD program.  The activities were guided by the 2010 work of the Commission on Education of Health Professionals for the 21^st Century and the document on the Global Consensus on the Social Accountability of Medical Schools.

Towards the third quarter of 2013, four faculty members were hired to prepare for the admission of students and recruitment of additional faculty. On March 5, 2014, the Board of Regents approved the revised five-year MD-Master of Public Administration (major in Health Emergency and Disaster Management). The latter is an existing program of the BU-Graduate School. A memorandum of agreement was forged with the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital which will be the school’s base hospital. The College of Nursing hosted the medical schools until the inauguration of the new building by President Benigno S.  Aquino III on May 19, 2014.       

In School Year 2014-15, the BUCM opened its doors to the Pioneer Batch with 62 students. Presently, there are 248 students (80 First Year students, 62 Second Year students, 53 Third Year students, and 53 Fourth Year students), 13 full-time and more than 30 part-time faculty members. CHED gave BUCM its authority to operate on November 7, 2017.

Unique Features of the School:

1. Dual Program – Aside from the MD Program, the BUCM graduate will also obtain the degree MPA major in Health Emergency and Disaster Management. This is in recognition of Bicol’s being a disaster-prone region in the country. On December 21, 2017, the BU Board of Regents approved the separation of the MD and MPA Programs such that the students have a choice of either taking the MD Program only or enrolling in the double-degree Program.    
2. Integrative Healthcare courses – These are First to Third Year courses based on the principles of relationship-centered care integrating conventional and

evidence-based complementary  modalities for the prevention and treatment of illnesses, believing in the innate healing capacity of individuals, engaging body/mind/spirit, and maintaining that healing is always possible even when curing is not. The aim is transformation in healthcare: from a purely biomedical to a more holistic medicine. This is also in response to the World Federation of Medical Education’s advocacy for traditional, unorthodox and alternative medicine.

3. Community Health- All students, divided into groups, undergo a month of community immersion every year in the same assigned barangays, longer during Clerkship and Internship, in order to transform the locale from  community-oriented (Health to the People) to community- based (Health with the People), and to  community-managed (Health by the people) barangays.
4. Return Service – Upon admission to the BUCM, all students are required to sign the Return Service Agreement where upon graduation, they have to work in the Philippines for at least two years.

Doctor of Medicine