CONSTRUCTION works have started for the College of Medicine building which is expected to be completed next year at the former site of the University Motorpool near the CHS.

The building work was awarded to the ECDI Engineering Construction from La Union.

The two-storey building costs around P29-M from the university’s Fund 101 (General Appropriations Act). Lying on 2,635 square meters, the building will have 6 classrooms, 6 laboratory rooms, 6 comfort rooms, and one faculty room.

In an interview by the MMSU Newsletter, Prof. Ryan Dean Sucgang, acting secretary, said that in preparation for the college’s eventual opening, chairpersons have been identified to lead the 17 departments which are grouped into two – the Basic Sciences Department (BSD) and the Clinical Sciences Department (CSD). The chairmen are either medical doctors or organic personnel of CHS.

The departments in the Basic Sciences are Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pathology, Research, Microbiology and Parasitology, and Preventive Medicine. In the Clinical Science, on the other hand, are Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Pediatrics, Neurological Sciences, Ophthalmology, Psychiatry, and Legal Medicine.

Aside from the university, the Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center was also involved in the creation of the medical school. University officials have already negotiated with the said hospital regarding additional faculty members and for the college’s clinical programs. So far, about 20 medical doctors in the province have signified their commitment to serve as faculty members once it is opened.