Prospective Students | All Students |
Alumni | StaffThe School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) physically is located at Taurama Campus behind the Port Moresby General Hospital, which serves as its Teaching Hospital. The first year is carried out at the Waigani Campus in the Science Foundation (SF) Year, and it's after a successful completion of the SF that may qualify a student to be admitted to any of the programs run in the SMHS.
The School has six divisions: Basic Medical Sciences, Pathology, Public Health, Clinical Sciences, Health Sciences, Nursing each division headed by Chairperson. Each Division is made of Disciplines each of which forms the basic academic unit of the School and is headed by a Discipline Head/Leader. the major programs run by the School include Medicine, undergraduate and postgraduate in which students are trained to become qualified doctors. The Health Sciences programs include, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Medical Imaging, Dental Therapy and Pharmacy. The Nursing Division offers Bachelors degree programs (in-service) in Nursing Administration, Community Health, Clinical Nursing. The Public Health Division in addition to their involvement in medical program and other programs run additional programs: Diploma in Community Health and Masters in Public Health. Why choose Medicine & Health Science?
The Taurama Campus can accommodate 450 students. It has the largest Medical Library in the Pacific with a large computer laboratory, two other computer labs, three large lecture theatres, eight teaching labs, 30 tutorial rooms and a large pathology museum.
The new Problem Based Learning (PBL) curriculum aimed at motivating self-directed learning is in its third year of implementation while Nursing, Health Sciences and Postgraduate curriculum are delivered by traditional mode of teaching and learning.
Presently, Health Sciences offers professional diploma courses to its students, who are trained to be dental therapists, medical laboratory technicians and pharmacy technicians. It boasts a modular degree program that enrols Pharmacy technicians and offers an additional two-year course leading to a degree in Pharmacy. Plans are underway to establish degree courses in the other professions.
Pursuing the above programs lead to the awarding of various higher degrees, first degrees and diplomas. They include: Doctor of Medicine (MD), Master of Medical Science (M.Med.Sc), Master of Medicine (M.Med), Master of Community Health (M.Com.H), Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Bachelor of Medical Science (B.Med.Sc), Postgraduate Diploma in Child Health (D.c.H), Postgraduate Diploma in Obstetrics & Gynaecology (D.O.G), Postgraduate Diplomas in Ophthalmology (D.Ophthal), Postgraduate Diploma in Otolaryngology (D.LO), Postgraduate Diploma in Anaesthetics (D.A), Post Graduate Diploma in Dermatology (Dip.Derm.) and Diploma in Community Health (D.Com.H), Diploma in Medical Imaging (Dip.M.LD), Diploma in Medical Laboratory Sciences (Dip.M.LT), Diploma in Dental Therapy (Dip.D.T), Diploma in Pharmacy (Dip.P.T), Bachelor in Pharmacy (B.Pharm.), Bachelor in Clinical Nursing, Child Health Midwifery, Nursing Education, Administration, Mental Health and Acute Care.
Doctors treat people who are sick, but they are also interested in ways to, prevent people getting sick, for example by immunisation or getting people to live a healthy way of life. Students who want to become medical doctors must study for the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree.
It is a five-year, full-time course, of which the first year is the Science Foundation Year at the Waigani Campus.
Students must have the ability to communicate with different types of people such as patients and other health professionals, be able to accept people without judging them and want to help others. About students are admitted into second year MBBS each year.
Students who get excellent results during the first half of the course can study for an extra year to obtain a Bachelor of Medical Science. They then go on to complete the MBBS program.
Dental therapy is concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of dental diseases, injuries and malformations. Dental therapists help people to have healthy teeth and gums so that they can lead useful and happy lives.
Students must successfully complete the first year Science program; this normally means at least a mixture of 'C' and 'D' grades, or a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.0. You should also be good with your hands and be able to get on with different types of people.
It's a three-year full-time course for students who had done first year Science at the Waigani Campus.
Pharmacy is concerned with manufacturing and dispensing drugs (medicines), controlling and supervising the distribution of drugs, providing some aspects of health care, promoting the intelligent use of medicines by the consumer, providing correct, unbiased drug information and carrying out research, discovering and developing new drugs.
A graduate can become a Pharmacy Technician by completing a three-year diploma course. Students scoring best results in this course can become pharmacists by studying for a further two years to obtain the Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm.)
Medical Imaging (radiography) uses different types of radiation, including X-rays and ultrasound, to diagnose and treat patients. For instance, a radiographer can take X-ray photographs of such tissues as broken bones and the lungs, and can use ultrasound to show the baby developing in the uterus. Diagnostic radiography produce images which can be used to find out what is wrong with patients and therapeutic radiography can be used to treat patients. It's a full time three-year course.
Medical Laboratory Sciences or also known as Biomedical Sciences, are concerned with the diagnosis, analysis and research into diseases of humans. Medical Laboratory Technicians are involved in testing and analysis of specimens from humans and culturing a variety of micro-organism from specimens, developing and evaluating new laboratory procedures and techniques in the latest diagnostic techniques.
The nursing degree program is relatively a new program in the School of medicine and Health Sciences. It was a program supported by the Health ) department but merged recently with the School. Bachelor of Nursing is a one-year full-time course. Nurses who graduate with the Bachelor of Nursing will be able to carry out supervisor and teaching responsibilities as nurse administrators and educators n both the provincial and national health institutions.
The Diploma of Community Medicine is a one year course which is intend :d for Environmental Health Officers, Health Inspectors and Nurses who have been working for some years and want to gain further knowledge and skills in public health.
Enrolments into Medicine is made up of the cream (top 5 %) of the first year Science students from the Waigani Campus with very good GPA (above 3.0). A very high level of performance is expected of a student to progress from an academic year to another.
Students in Health Sciences programs are very good students from first year Science with GPA well above the minimum required level (2.0). Many choose these programs as future careers because they are complimentary to medicine and health care.
