AND HOW MANY SOUTH TEXAS STUDENTS ARE GRADUATING?

Special to El Rrun-Run
If we are to believe U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, his commendation of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and its first class of doctors in a speech before the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday in Washington is complteting its mission of teaching South Texas doctors.

The 2020 graduating class consists of 39 students reflecting the diversity of the nation, according to a statement from the congressman’s office, with the majority of the class hailing from Texas and South Texas.

But that's as far as it goes.

The UTRGV Medical School was built with great fanfare to provide doctors to South Texas and made much of the promse that a majority of them would be from the Rio Grande Valley.

But are they? 

Information requests by various media present a muddled picture, with the origin of the 39 students of the first graduating class hidden among the aggregate statistics. Viewing the numbers presented by the UTRGV one cannot get a true picture of where the students came from. In other words, the origins are hiddden among the categories of Hispanics, other minorities, gender, international students, residents and non-residents.

Instead, the congressman's office states that the class reflects "the diversity of the nation with a majority of the class hailing from Texas and South Texas."

Exactly how many of those 39 students are actully from South Texas? 

No one can tell because their number is hidden within the nation, state and Stouh Texas cohorts. But given the comptitive nature of the medical school entrance exams, we will go out on a limb and say that a minority of them were from the Rio Grande Valley.

As of this year, the UTRGV School of Medicine now has more than 200 medical students and over 200 medical residents and fellows being trained throughout the Rio Grande Valley, the statement read.

“The establishment of the UTRGV School of Medicine followed decade-long efforts to ensure that Rio Grande Valley residents have access to quality healthcare services, an important milestone for the region,” Vela said at the capitol. 

“From 1997 to 2009, a regional academic health center was opened in efforts to build the resources and healthcare infrastructure were launched. The success of these efforts resulted in the Texas Legislature approving the creation of a medical school in 2013. In 2015, the UTRGV School of Medicine received preliminary accreditation, which allowed the university to recruit its first medical school class.”

Vela went on to compliment the 39 prospective graduates in his speech.

“The class of 2020 has established a precedent of success and excellence for the UTRGV School of Medicine and for all future classes to emulate,” he said. “The inaugural class will receive their doctor of medicine on May 9, 2020, where they will then go on to complete specialised residency training across the country, including in South Texas.”

In othert words, South Texas cannot be guaranteed to be the destination point – or where these doctors will practice  – and one can't tell how many of them were from the Rio Grande Valley.

Vela's statement blankets the issue even further.

“The UTRGV School of Medicine class of 2020 is the future of health care not only for the Rio Grande Valley, but for this country,” he said. “Congratulations to the university for their success and to these future physicians, thank you for choosing to be our nation’s (not exclusively the Rio Grande) healers.”