HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

1.1 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES

In the year 2000 AD, a group of eminent Health Care Experts, that we choose to enlist as The Founding Fathers of this College, started an academic revolution of sorts in Akwa Ibom State. Their main objective was to pave the way for the establishment of a Medical School in Akwa Ibom State, a state that accounts for the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, whose people were so politically conscious that they started the agitation for state creation as far back as the 1940s, but which faced neglect even in training institutions such as a University and a Medical School, as well as other institutions of higher learning at the Federal level.

They pursued their objective with dogged determination and in 2001AD; having obtained the necessary instruments from the appropriate authorities, the first batch of Medical Students was admitted into the University of Uyo Medical School Christened College of Health Sciences. The College of Health Sciences, like the University before it, was not given any take-off grant. The struggle was therefore that of survival for the newly established Medical School.

Through commitment of the Founding Fathers the medical school managed to survive. The initial intake which had a combined strength of 69 candidates dwindled to 37 by 2010, thanks to the determination of the young men and women who saw this as a challenge of monumental proportions for survival and decided to stay. Some out of the 69 that started fell by the wayside as is always in Medical Schools the world over; some re-located to other Medical Schools within the country, others went to other climes in order to achieve their primary objectives, and still others left the study of Medicine altogether.

The untold financial challenges that the Medical School and the University experienced meant that we could not receive the accreditation for each step of the medical training as and when due. The result was that the first and second batches of students who had been merged into one, had to spend ten years in Medical School, before achieving their objectives of becoming medical doctors, not because they failed their examinations but because the University could not garner the resources to put in place the facilities which would guarantee their training at the required standards.

By the end of 2008 the College had been granted accreditation for only the pre-clinical part of the training. In January 2009, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) came for an accreditation visit to enable our students begin the Clinical aspects of their studies. The programme was already behind schedule by three years. Between January 2009 and January 2011 however, our Medical School went through the stringent standards of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, and the implementation of their guidelines, obtaining the Final Clinical accreditation, and by September 2011, presented only 28 surviving students for the Final MB, BS, examinations, under the strict observer-ship of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).

Out of that number, 17 emerged as the first graduates in Medicine from the College of Health Sciences, University of Uyo. That marked the conclusion of an event which had started ten years earlier. On December 8, 2011, this Medical School presented its first medical graduates to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, for the administration of the Physician’s Oath and formal admission into the Medical Profession by a release of their medical licenses in a colourful yet solemn ceremony.

To complete this history, the names of the Founding Fathers of the College of Health Sciences, University of Uyo are hereby presented as follows. Professor Etim Moses Essien, OFR, FAS, eminent scholar of international repute and Professor of Haematology who was the Chairman of the group, Prof. Ed. B. Attah, OON, another eminent scholar of international repute and

Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN). Out of that number, 17 emerged as the first graduates in Medicine from the College of Health Sciences, University of Uyo.

That marked the conclusion of an event which had started ten years earlier. On December 8, 2011, this Medical School presented its first medical graduates to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, for the administration of the Physician’s Oath and formal admission into the Medical Profession by a release of their medical licenses in a colourful yet solemn ceremony.

To complete this history, the names of the Founding Fathers of the College of Health Sciences, University of Uyo are hereby presented as follows. Professor Etim Moses Essien, OFR, FAS, eminent scholar of international repute and Professor of Haematology who was the Chairman of the group, Prof. Ed. B. Attah, OON, another eminent scholar of international repute and Professor of Pathology, (Member), Prof. Etienne E. Essien, eminent Professor of Pharmacy (Member), Professor Joseph J. Andy, a foremost Professor of Medicine (Cardiologist) who incidentally became the pioneer Provost of the College (Member), Professor O. O. Bassey, one of the foremost Professors of Cardio-thoracic Surgery, and Prof. Ekong E. Ekong, a social Scientist, the only non-medical member of the group who was in the Committee because of his position as the Director of Academic Planning, University of Uyo, at the time.

The Secretary to this group was Mr. Effefiong E. Essien. Special mention must also be made of Apostle Dr. Edmonson T. Akpabio, OON, former Chairman of the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council, and National Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) for the role he also played in seeing to the survival of this Medical School. These are the illustrious and patriotic sons of Akwa Ibom State who started the revolution that brought the College of Health Sciences into existence.

3.0 EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

The curriculum shall be Community-oriented and contemporary in scope, to meet the needs of the21st century.  The training shall be Community and Hospital based. The aim is to establish partnerships for the health of the community. The educational programme shall be designed to meet the health needs of the society.

4.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The aim is to produce graduates who shall be well equipped
a)To practice effectively in a Primary, Secondary or Tertiary Health Care Facility in an Urban or Rural area.
b)To work effectively in the health team, and to assume leadership role when necessary.
c)To be effective health advocates for the needs of the community
d)To investigate causes of local epidemics and proffer solutions
e)To be knowledgeable in health policies, health management and global health issues.
f)To be capable of conducting independent research

1. g) To be able to benefit from further specialist or further Medical Scientific training in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world.

The following shall be the Faculties and Institutes in the College with their relevant Department:

5.1 FACULTY OF BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCES:
Departments:

1. • Anatomy
   • Biochemistry
   • Physiology

5.2 FACULTY OF CLINICAL SCIENCES:
Departments:

1. • Pathology
   • Chemical Pathology
   • Medical Microbiology and Parasitology
   • Haematology
   • Pharmacology (In Faculty of Pharmacy)
   • Community Health
   • Medicine
   • Surgery
   • Paediatrics
   • Family Medicine
   • Obstetrics and Gynaecology
   • Anaesthesia
   • Ophthalmology
   • Psychiatry
   • Radiology
   • Orthopaedics & Traumatology

5.3 FACULTY OF ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES:
Departments:

1. • Nursing Sciences
   • Radiography
   • Medical Laboratory Sciences
   • Physiotherapy
   • Nutrition & Dietetics

5.4 FACULTY OF DENTISTRY
Departments:

1. • Preventive Dentistry
   • Oral Pathology

•  Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
•  Restorative Dentistry

5.5 INSTITUTES:
i) Institute of Biomedical Research