Principal, Amoud College of Health Sciences

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers and other thought-provoking books, has an interesting theory about success.

In his view, “it isn’t the brightest that succeed, but rather those who have been given opportunities and who had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”

Welcome to the Amoud College of Health Sciences which aims to produce competent Health professionals who are able to deal with the prevailing health problems of our country. It is the first training Health institution opened after the collapse of the Somali Government. Training facilities were one of the main casualties. It was destroyed, damaged or simply abandoned as result of insecurity and unfortunately training ceased to function at all levels. A large number of youth turned to criminal activities while many emigrated to Western Europe and North America under the pretext of seeking higher education.

The present and future impact of Amoud University as a whole in the Somali context is self-evident and cannot be underestimated. Within the first months of its existence the news of the birth of Amoud University had an amazing reawakening effect on a public devastated by a series of conflicts and mis-governance and helped energize the whole system of education. It has restored a great measure of hope and pride among the people providing much-needed self confidence after years of helplessness and desperation. The establishment of Amoud College of Health Sciences has tremendous psychological impact on the thinking of the people when it is  extraordinary vision turned into a reality after witnessing the first batch of newly graduated Medical Doctors in mid 2007.

Our curriculum is solid and forward-looking( Community-oriented Education), reflecting the environment our product will face in practice, and our physical plant is growing rapidly, with a substantial number of building projects either under way or on the drawing board. Our greatest assets are our community, our dedicated and hard-working teaching and administrative staff; many of whom are internationally known, our students who come from various backgrounds with the impeccable academic credentials.

Emphasis is put on collaborations between the different schools, self-direct learning of the students and the expectation that students take more than the usual responsibility for their education and contribute to the communities while they are in their education through designed community activities of Amoud Health Sciences.
To fulfil this target and equip its graduates with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for the practice of their different fields. Amoud Health Sciences  uses different training sites with all the health staff contributing to the training. We use the existing hospitals (Borama General Hospital, Allaaleh Hospital and Al-Hayatt hospital) three health centers, five MCHs and two community sites in which the students are given the opportunity of coming in contact with the communities they will work for after finishing their studies.

Building the human resources for the health system of a country should not only include healthcare professionals like physicians and nurses but must take into considerations also all health professionals such as pharmacists, lab technicians, dentists and public health to address the basic health needs of its communities. doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, lab technicians, radiologists and technicians and public health officers  are educated separately, but in the real world have to work  together and in teams. Amoud College has started new initiative of training them together using our minimum resources we have and training sites.

The new graduates are expected to serve anywhere in the country and will be distributed to areas with the greatest need. Special attention is paid to the quality of medical education and allied health professionals training throughout, starting from admission to graduation and assessed thoroughly by external bodies from the King’s College Teaching Hospital of London with which we have a partnership.

Amoud College of Health Science is the most rapidly growing institute of Amoud University and strives for academic excellence. It has started with 15 students and three lecturers and has now 753 students and 73 lecturers. It has produced 56 doctors, 99 nurses (first Nurses with BScN Degree in Somaliland and Somalia), 12 dental surgeons, 6 diploma dental technicians, 6 nurse anaesthetists and 20 community midwifes. Its product has reached every region of Somaliland and Somalia and has contributed to the provision of health services of the country. This outstanding success for the last 10 years was attributed to the creativity, boldness of vision, commitment and clarity of thought of its management, teaching and administration staff.

Finally I wish to express my deep gratitude to all those who contributed to this noble activity which has restored a great measure of hope and pride among the youth and provide much needed confidence after years of helplessness and desperation ‘‘ONLY ALLAH WILL REWARD YOU’’