University of Namibia School of Medicine Overview

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1 University of Namibia School of Medicine Overview

The UNAM School of Medicine is a key medical professional School under the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Namibia. The mission of the School of Medicine is to produce health professionals whose knowledge, professional skills, and practice in medicine are in tune with the needs of society, practice patterns, and scientific advancements. The School shall provide a learning environment conducive to the pursuit of professional competency of health workers, research, and service to the community.
The School will continually strive for the establishment of training programs in a wide spectrum of health disciplines and lending support to the human resource development initiatives of the country, including post-graduate education of physicians and scientists. The School is mandated to grant a medical degree to its graduates.
The Government of Namibia, it people and partners has done a lot of studies before the final establishment of the Medical School in Namibia was given a green light by the Ministry of Health, Education, and the Health Profession Council approved curriculum. Despite that The School of Medicine, is simple five years, it department of Pharmacy has now also become a school on its own in 2012. The UNAM School of Medicine current faculty and infrastructure supporting the running of MBChB degree, has so far survived many challenges that comes along with a prestigious program like this one, due to the strong financial support from the government of Namibia.

1992 – Multiple Stakeholder Meeting: The Government of Namibia engaged multiple stakeholders in the process of establishing its own School of Medicine in 1992.
2002 – Medical School Foundation: The WHO Regional Office for Africa appointed an expert to spear head this initiative in 2002 and laid the foundation from which to build up the School supported by strong political commitment from the highest level.
2002 – Partner institution role: The Free University of Berlin and Oulu University of Finland have both demonstrated assistance in this exercise.
2008 – Preparation and Consultations: After more than five years of preparation and consultation, a feasibility study which was conducted in March 2008, recommended the establishment of the School of Medicine.
2008 – Establishment: In June 2008, the University of Namibia implemented one of recommendations critical for establishment the School of Medicine through the recruitment the Coordinator of the project who assumed duty in September 2008.
2009 – Curriculum: The approval Accreditation of the BPharm curriculum by the HPCNA and the University Sanate.
2010 – Start: The School opened its doors for it first 55 medical students intake in 2010.
2011 – Pharmacy department established: The School of Medicine, has establish the department of Pharmacy in 2011, and their first intake.
Inauguration of the National School of Medicine: the President of the Republic of Namibia President, DR. Hifikepunye Pohamba and the Founding Father Dr. Sam Nujoma, have official set the ball lolling for medical education in Namibia.
2012 – NGF registration: The submission for registration with the NQA was done.
2012 – Community and Public Health placement: In support of the national policy on public health for Namibia, the UNAM MBChC has placed it first students, in the rural area of Namibia.
Future prospects: Additional programs of Dentistry, Medical Laboratory and Rehabilitation Sciences shall be introduced at degree level starting with Dentistry and Pharmacy which share similar resources with the Medicine degree, from 2011 onwards. Postgraduate training shall be offered after 2015.

Despite the competitive market for professional trainers and professors in the field of medicine around the world, the UNAM School of Medicine has managed to attract, professionals of high standards and from well renowned Universities and hospitals. The UNAM School of Medicine managed to recruit more than fifty staff members to cover the MBChB curriculum disciplines fulltime and has made use of part-time clinical trainers form both public and private hospitals.
The UNAM School of Medicine programme has a population of about 380 students for its first five years of operation, including students from the wider SADC region. As Medical professional are a national need, it is anticipated that the School of medicine will continue to enroll between 65 – 80 new students per year to resolve the shortage of medical doctors in Namibia.

University of Namibia School of Medicine Overview

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