Tag: July 10, 2002

THROUGH the DZRH Operation Tulong, the University of Santo Tomas Hospital is now riding the airwaves with its own program, “Misyon…Konsultasyon!”

Aired every Tuesday from 10 to 11 p.m., the program started last May 7 with Atty. Pilar P. Almira and Dr. Tito Torralba as hosts. Almira is USTH chief operating officer while Torralba is medical director of the hospital.

JULY is the National Blood Donation Month, and the university is expected to drum up the campaign on campus. Taking the lead in the campaign are UST Hospital and the Red Cross Youth Council (RCYC).

In an interview, Dr. Manuel Barnes, chair of the Blood Bank of the USTH Division of Clinical Pathology (DCP), said that most of their supply comes from replacement blood instead of volunteer donors. Replacement blood comes from people paid by the hospital to donate blood in order to maintain their regular stock of blood.

WARY that the new digital I.D. system will be used to monitor their movements, campus activists have accused the University of harassment.

According to Romulo Yumul, a member of the Alliance of Concerned Thomasians, UST implemented the new I.D. system to keep an eye on them.

“Feeling namin may hidden agenda. (With the) digital I.D.system, they can bar us from entering the buildings. (Now, it would be easier) for them to stop our activities,” Yumul said.

FINALLY, Medicine students are learning to adjust to the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) method.

This is according to Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Dean Dr. Angeles Tan-Alora, who says her office has been receiving less and less complaints from students regarding the PBL compared to the first years of its implementation.

TO SHARPEN Nursing students’ communication skills, the College of Nursing (CN) will experiment with the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) method, similar to the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery’s program.

CN Dean Glenda Vargas said most of UST nurses often have problems expressing themselves, and this affects their work. With the program, she hopes to improve the students’ communication skills.

DUE TO its inability to meet the standard set by the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (Pacucoa), the Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) is in danger of losing its Level 2 accreditation, which expired last March, faculty officials said.

In the event it loses its Level 2 accreditation, AB also stands to lose the Center of Excellence (COE) status accorded to it Literature and Philosophy programs by the Commission on Higher Education (Ched). Ched requires at least a Level 2 accreditation for COE’s.

THE COLLEGE of Nursing has suffered a considerable drop in its passing rate in the Nursing licensure examinations— from 99.7 percent last year to 92. 3 percent last June. The passing rate is the College’s lowest in 54 years as only 300 out of 325 passed.

Last year, 334 out of 335 examinees passed the board exams.

Despite the decrease in passing rate, 18 Nursing alumni made it to the Top 20.

A DECOMPOSING fetus was found in a closet outside the ladies’ room on the ground floor of the Ecclesiatical Faculties last June 27.

According to the reports of the Office of Security Affairs (OSA) janitress, Ms. Delia Pelansa noticed a shoebox in the closet near the ladies room and out of curiousity opened it only to discover a decomposing fetus wrapped in a cloth. She brought the fetus outside the chapel and informed security guard Ney Atadero, who called the security office.

The security office estimated the fetus to be around four to five months old.

A UST Faculty of Civil Law alumna was named one of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines (TOSP) last June 19 at the Malacañang Palace.

Arlene Maneja, a magna cum laude graduate last March, bested students from other renowned Philippine law schools such as Ateneo de Manila and UP-Diliman.

THE UNIVERSITY received a series of hoax bomb threats last month, according to a UST Security Affairs (UST-SA) police report.

Office of Student Affairs employee Thelma Maaña received a call last June 20 at around 2 p.m., saying a bomb was planted at the Main Building that might explode at around 3 p.m.

UST-SA Detachment Commander Capt. Mariano Maravilla immediately ordered a security check in the building, particularly in the comfort rooms, but no bombs were found.