I just re-read the vision and mision of the UPCM college. Nowhere is the mention of training doctors to be leaders in the health sector. What's prominent is the emphasis on primary health care and service to the community. Oh no! I don't intend to practice medicine in some far-flung area. Too much effort, too little effect. Blame my PH training.

Which med school has the vision of producing leaders? Ateneo! Wait... CPH's mision is to produce health leaders. Yes! Go people who aren't forced to take two graduate degrees at the same time! All though I'm a bit jealous of the training Ateneo graduates are going to get regarding management and planning. Still, I think I'm too immature and inexperienced to start studying those things. Better to study that when I'm prepared, focused, more mature and had survived the non-academic world for at least 2 years.

I should stop criticizing the Ateneo approach to health education reform. I really think it is too ideal and they need to have some serious screening process to weed out the unfit ones. Who knows, maybe they're going to be my bosses in the future? At least until I get my graduate degree (of my own informed choice). And the fact that they don't consider our BSPH graduates fit enough to skip the summer transition program, or at least parts of it like Epid. Ok, I'll stop school bashing now.

UP Manila should really consider strengthening the ties between CM and CPH. Currently, the only two departments linked to CM are the Departments of Microbiology and Parasitology. If they want to produce graduates who can match Ateneo graduates at least in terms of skill set, they should promote taking of MPH or MHA degrees in CPH or in any school of public health for that matter. UPCM has a choice, directly serve the underserved and unprivileged or solve the core problems. A sensible person will tell you that it is not feasible for everybody to do those two things at the same time. Then again, UPCM is clearly failing to convince their graduates to practice here in the country so they have to solve that first. Maybe a more stringent interview process and losing some special categories such as children of medical alumni or stop making us think that the admission process is being politicized.