The Royal Institute of Health Sciences (RIHS) is one of two main medical education centers in

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

, the other being the Institute of Traditional Medicine Services. The RIHS was established in

Thimphu Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's ''dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient ...

in 1974 as a member college of the

Royal University of Bhutan The Royal University of Bhutan ( Dzongkha: འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་འཛིན་གཙུག་ལག་སློབ་སྡེ་; Wylie:'' 'brug rgyal-'dzin gtsug-lag-slob-sde''), founded on June 2, 2003, by a royal decree, is the ...

, and is associated with the National Referral Hospital. The RIHS offers diploma and certificate programmes for nurses, medical technicians and other primary health care workers. The institute received the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

's 50th Anniversary Award for Primary Health Care in 1998. Health infrastructure is improving in Bhutan and there is growing number of trained human resources, but the country still had only 2 doctors per 10,000 population in 2005. The RIHS cannot train doctors, so Bhutan must send candidates to neighboring countries such as

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

for their MBBS course."Country Health System Profile: Bhutan"
World Health Organization. Retrieved 7 February 2009.

Courses

Nursing

The institute trains auxiliary nurse midwives, general nurse midwives and assistant nurses. A joint initiative between

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

, the

and the Royal Government of Bhutan gives Bhutanese qualified nurses the opportunity to obtain a bachelor's degree. Students who successfully complete this program are eligible to apply for postgraduate studies in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Pharmacy

The RIHS conducts a two-year

Pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

Technician Course, teaching students pharmacy and

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

, with basic introductions to

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

, health education, first aid etc. Other health work trainees are also taught pharmacology and pharmacy on similar lines.

Physiotherapy

The RIHS offers a 2 years of certificate program in

Physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

, following which the students work for a few more months in the general referral hospital, and are then sent out to provide services in various districts across the country."International Health Division: Bhutan"
Canadian Physiotherapy Association. Retrieved 7 February 2009.

Other Courses

The institute also trains health assistants, basic health workers, and technicians of various other disciplines such as

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

, dental,

medical radiography Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical radiography ("diagnostic" and "therapeut ...

ophthalmology Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

and operation theater.

References

{{authority control Universities in Bhutan Medical schools in Bhutan 1974 establishments in Bhutan Educational institutions established in 1974