College of Health sciences

Introduction

The College of Health Sciences is one of giant organs of the Mekelle University currently working hard towards its mission of advancing the health of the Ethiopian people through quality education, innovative research and customer driven health services. Envisioned to become second-to-none for quality in Medical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences education and services in African, the college has so far gained tremendous achievements in the three of its core activities-teaching, research and community services. With yearly enrollment capacity of about 500 students in its undergraduate and 100 students in the post graduate programs, the College of Health sciences has been striving a lot to diversify its academic programs.

Objectives:

The overall objective of the College of Health Sciences is to address the trained human resources of the various health care professions constituting the health care team with the required knowledge, skill and attitude that the country needs to prevent, treat and promote the health and well being of the Ethiopian public.

Academic Programs

The College of Health Sciences encompasses seven academic departments each running at least one fully fledged program leading to the various accredited qualifications in Medical, Pharmaceutical, Dental, Nursing and other integrated disciplines of health sciences. The Institute of Biomedical Sciences, established as a unit entity in the college, is engaged in offering basic sciences’ courses to students in the academic departments.

The Departments are:

1. School of Medicine
2. Department of Dentistry
3. Department of Pharmacy
4. Department of Public Health
5. Department of Midwifery
6. Department of Anesthesia
7. Department of Nursing
8. Institute of Biomedical Sciences

Overall, there are nine post graduate (eight Maters and one residency specialty) and eight undergraduate (two Doctorate and six Bachelorette Degrees) programs which are currently conferred by the above departments under the college. The Masters Degree programs include Public Health, Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Maternity and Reproductive Health, Child Health and Pediatric Nursing, Nutrition, Integrated Emergency Surgery and Obstetrics, Child Health and Pediatrics as well as Infectious Diseases of Public Health Importance. The last two are tailor-made clinical M.Sc. programs exclusively designed for domestic consumption, the primary candidates being health officers and nurses. The college recently launched an extensive and four years long residency program in surgery leading to a Specialty Certificate in General Surgery. Amid the intensified demand, preparations are also well under way in the college to launch such residency programs in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and also in Gynecology and Obstetrics. The College of Health Sciences has be the first to enroll international students in the Mekelle University.  

The specific Departments offering the programs indicated above are:

Department of Medicine

• Specialty in Surgery
• MD in Medicine
• M.Sc. in Integrated Emergency Surgery and Obstetrics
• M.Sc. in Child Health and Pediatrics
• M.Sc. in Infectious Diseases of Public Health Importance

Department of Public Health

• MPH in Public Health
• M.Sc. in Biostatistics and Health Informatics
• M.Sc. in Nutrition
• B.Sc. in Public Health

Department of Nursing

• M.Sc. in Maternity and Reproductive Health Nursing
• M.Sc. in Pediatrics and Child Health Nursing
• B.Sc. in Nursing
• B.Sc. in Psychiatry Nursing

Department of Pharmacy

• B.Pharm in Pharmacy

Department of Midwifery

• B.Sc. in Midwifery

Department of Dentistry

• DDS in Dental Surgery
• DDM in Dental Medicine

Department of Anesthesia

• B.Sc. in Anesthesia

Research Areas:

Diversified  staff  profile,  fairly good equipped Biomedical and Pharmaceutical laboratory facilities, the  DSS  site  and  the Ayder  Referral  Hospital  facilities can be taken as good opportunities to conduct research and address health related problems of the  country.  Recognizing the  role  of health research  in  addressing  the  major  health problems  of  the  country,  CHS  has  established a  Research and Community Services Council  with  the major responsibilities  to  coordinate,  support  and  encourage interdisciplinary  research  teams  across its  academic  departments.  Accordingly,  the council has spearheaded the development of the under  listed  5  (five)  College  level research thematic areas in line with the 2010/11-2014/15  Growth  and  Transformation  Plan  (GTP)  of  the  Ethiopian  Government:

• Theme 1: Maternal and Child Health
• Theme 2:  Communicable Diseases with  special  emphasis  to  TB,  HIV/AIDS, Malaria,  Leishmaniasis and others
• Theme 3:  Health care service provision and quality of health care services  
• Theme 4: Non Communicable Diseases with special emphasis to malnutrition, malignancies, chronic medical illnesses and others
• Theme 5:  Environmental and occupation health

As per these thematic areas, about 64 research proposals have been written by academic staff members at the various departments in the CHS to compete for small and large scale projects during the 2011/12 academic year.

Publications

With regards to research and publications, the College is gaining remarkable achievements. Over the last two years, all of the research projects won earlier by the academic staffs at the College have been completed and reported to the Research and Community Service Council (RCSC). Some of these research projects have been published on peer reviewed national/international journals. The College of Health Sciences has already finalized preparations to launch peer reviewed journal to be designated as its official and scholarly publication.

Teaching and Research Facilities

All dedicated for its teaching, research and community services, the College of Health Sciences owns the Ayder Referral Hospital, six wet and dry lab facilities of modest scientific standards, Nursing skill labs, broad-band internet supplied computer labs (separately dedicated for the UG & PG programs), a central library with virtual online/offline services cataloged with extensive literature in health, well furnished and equipped lecture theatres, video conferencing hall with state of the arts facilities, anatomical dissection room and laboratory animals’ house, all situated in the beautiful Ayder Campus of the Mekelle University. Moreover, the college uses other off-campus teaching and research facilities including various affiliated hospitals, health centers, pharmaceutical manufacturing plant and drug retail out lets as well as demographic surveillance sites in Mekelle and the Tigray region. 

Current College Officers

• Zerihun Abebe, MD, Assistant Professor, Dean
• Ephrem Tekle, MD, Head, Quality Assurance

Department Heads

• Hagos Teka, MD, Assistant Professor, Medical Director, Ayder Referral Hospital
• Loko Bongassie, Head, School of Medicine
• Hailemichael Zeru , M.Sc. Head, Department of Pharmacy
• Haftu Berhe, M.Sc. Head, Department of Nursing
• Balem Dimtsu, M.Sc. Head, Department of Midwifery
• Yemane Ashebir, MPH, Head, Department of Public Health
• Kidane Mamo, DDM, Head, Department of Dentistry
• Hayelom Kebede, M.Sc. Director, Institute of Biomedical Sciences