DEPUTY Speaker Ralph Recto announced on Thursday that at least 2,189 more medical education slots will be available in the school year 2023-2024, bringing the total number of 'Doktor Para Sa Bayan' scholars to 3,600.

'This is a 150 percent increase. We are supersizing the number of government scholars taking up medicine,' Recto, who is the author of the Senate Bill 1520 creating the program, said. 'The program will be available in all regions except Caraga and Mimaropa, but only if an accredited medical school is established there,' he added.