Venil Lovely Estella Bolambao plans to stay in the country to specialize in internal medicine: “A lot of people here really need our help.” CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
‘Korean telenovelas’ kept her from burning out
THIS year’s No. 1 board passer of the Physician’s Licensure Examination made sure to avoid burnout when she was reviewing for the tests.
“I watched Korean telenovelas,” said Veni Lovely Estella Bolambao.
And when the going got tougher, she would turn to the Bible for divine guidance.
“The Bible calms me down and it gives me comfort,” said the 27-year-old native of Talisay City, Cebu.
Bolambao, who earned her medical degree from Southwestern University on a full scholarship, was the highest ranked of the 832 examinees who took the licensure tests for two weekends early this month. She got a rating of 88.3 percent.
A total of 594 successfully hurdled the examination.
A day after the results were released by the Professional Regulations Commission , Bolambao said she plans to specialize in internal medicine and has no plans to work abroad where the pay is more lucrative.
“I realized that there are a lot of people in the Philippines who really need our help,” she told Cebu Daily News.
Bolambao recalled that when she was doing her internship, she had to buy diapers for some of her patients who couldn’t afford to buy their own medical supplies.
“I have always felt so blessed. God has always been there for me. It’s time to help others who are in need,” she said.
The youngest of three siblings, she said becoming a doctor was a childhood dream.
Among her inspirations to pursue her dream was her late grandmother, Visitacion, who died five years ago.
Bolambao graduated magna cum laude from the Southwestern University College of Medicine in 2013.
Prior to that, she took up nursing at the Cebu Normal University and finished the course cum laude in 2007. After passing the licensure examination for nursing, she became a clinical instructor at CNU for two years before finally enrolling in medical school.
Board topnotcher proved self to father
POVERTY is not a hindrance to pursue one’s dream.
Mark Ando, the third-placer in the recent Physician’s Licensure Examination, is proof of this adage.
He graduated third in his class at the Cebu Doctors’ University College of Medicine and got a rating of 86.83 in the exam.
His father, a security guard, gave him the cold treatment after he decided to push through with his desire to pursue Medicine.
Ando said his father wanted him to find work and help the family after he graduated cum laude from the University of San Carlos with a degree in Applied Physics.
Sensing the potential in the young man from Mandaue City, a French nongovernment organization offered him a scholarship to pursue medical studies.
“My father and I did not talk for five months because of my decision,” the 27-year-old told Cebu Daily News.
It was only when he was in the fifth month of medical school when frosty relations between father and son thawed.
“I told him, ’Pa, this may take a few years but this is an investment,’” Ando told CDN.
After learning about the test results, Ando again reached out to his father.
“Pa, it’s time for me to give back. You have worked so hard for us,” he recalls telling his father in Cebuano.
Ando said he plans to specialize in internal medicine and neurology.