This Monday, the rector of the University of La Serena, Luperfina Rojas, met, in the company of the president of the Board of Directors of said university, Ernesto Velasco, with the Minister of Social Development, Javiera Toro, and other authorities at the level centers, to advance the efforts to complete the future building that will house its School of Medicine.
It should be noted that they have already had meetings to date with the Minister of Education, Nicolás Cataldo, and with the Undersecretary of Higher Education, Victor Orellana, finding a willingness to move forward with the prompt opening of the school.
Meanwhile, at the local level, in addition to the support of regional councilors, ULS representatives have already met with the regional governor, Krist Naranjo.
And support, both regional and central, is necessary when it comes to finding financing to execute the initiative, which, of course, will require new infrastructure to train quality professionals.
Read also: Creation of the ULS School of Medicine opens expectations of enhancing public health
MEETING CONFIRMS WILLS
After the meeting, the rector of the ULS, Luperfina Rojas, said that “the Medicine degree project is tremendously important for the university, which has already been approved by the Board of Directors, and we hope to open it in 2025. Therefore “I want to point out that we do have the skills, the capabilities, the academics, as well as the infrastructure to start with it,” he stated.
However, he acknowledges, “it is a large-scale project, different from other races. Therefore, for that reason we require support,” he stressed.
Regarding his visit to the capital, Rojas explained that “it was to be able to carry out a project like this, which is of great magnitude. We also want to have the support of the regional government, as has been the case in other regions, starting with Arica, Tarapacá or Antofagasta, among others. All the State universities that have launched this important and necessary project for their regions and for the country have had the support of their regional government.”
Along these lines, he stressed that “we came to ask for speed, that the Ministry of Social Development can review the project, which has already been reviewed and has been approved for awarding in 2024 by the Social Development Seremi of the Coquimbo Region. as well as by the regional government and its technical teams.”
Likewise, he requested that the commission, which is made up of regional and central government analysts, respond. “We require that and also that this opportunity be known and given to thousands of young people who hope that their state university can offer them this career by 2025,” he indicated.
“I really believe and am very grateful for the reception that our minister gave us, where she committed and told us that she was going to support us in moving forward decisively with the entire review of the technical report and being able to advance in our SR, to be able to count on and contribute to what was delivered by our regional government of Coquimbo,” he added.
For his part, the president of the ULS Board of Directors, Ernesto Velasco, explained that “there is already an agreement with the Municipality of La Serena for the CESFAM to be clinical fields at the beginning of this project and there is also a conversation with the Service of Health to hand over the building of the old La Serena Hospital on loan to the University to install the future clinical hospital there and make it part of the public health network.”
PUBLIC PROJECT ROOTED IN THE REGION
In this regard, after the meeting with the rector of the ULS, Víctor Orellana, undersecretary of Higher Education, explained that “from the Ministry of Education we also proposed to the minister (of Social Development) what priority (of the project) is for the region and for the universities of the State, and for us to be able to advance quickly in the Medicine degree at the University of La Serena.”
“It is a university of excellence, complex, that researches – he added – “that is linked to the environment and above all, it is a public university. It has the mandate to face a deficit in medical specialties that we have at the national level and also at the local level,” she highlighted.
Along these lines, he emphasized that “when the State creates a capacity of this nature in the territories, it is a strategic asset and it remains there. It is not just a private project that, congratulations, contributes to the country, but that tomorrow may decide to leave the region.”
“Here we have obtained from the minister our full commitment to advance as quickly as possible in this support for public investment in this new building,” he remarked.
At the same time, he made it clear – despite what was necessary and a priority – that a technical review process had to be carried out, “but we have received a very good response from the minister, and I understand that the teams are already working on this matter. to carry out the project and resolve all the doubts and all the details that need to be resolved,” he explained.
Orellana added that “we have many needs, especially in the territories. We lack professionals in many subjects and for that what we have asked of the State universities is, where it is needed, and in relation to their development strategy, that we are eager to receive their enrollment growth plans,” he assured.
Finally, it should be noted that in the case of the University of La Serena, the experience in careers in the health area has been positive and has achieved an important social impact in the Coquimbo Region. In that sense, the university has in its favor the existence, for 40 years, of its School of Nursing, and for a decade, its School of Dentistry.
In addition, more than 54 thousand people from vulnerable sectors of the area have been treated at the race’s dental clinic, opened in 2016.
Having a medical school has been one of the greatest desires of the higher education institution in the area, which hopes to settle these negotiations in the short term to be able to carry out the long-awaited initiative.
