(a) This section shall apply to any public hospital in this state, operated on a municipal-county basis, on a county basis, on a municipal basis or on a regional or statewide basis operating under the authority of any act or acts of the Legislature of Alabama, heretofore passed or hereinafter enacted, either local or general.
(b) The Board of Trustees or other like governing bodies of any hospital coming within the purview of this section is hereby authorized and permitted, but not required, to expend any funds such hospital has on hand by providing scholarships for the purpose of the educating and training of professional and technical personnel, and each such hospital, by and through its governing body, shall make and provide its own rules and regulations to govern the issuance of such scholarships.