Need for more medical personnel increasing

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 14: At a time when the need for more medical personnel is increasing, the Acting Deputy Director of Kuwait University for the Center for Medical Sciences is taking steps to include the College of Public Health in the College of Allied Medical Sciences, reports Al-Qabas daily. This step was met with objection from the professors of the College of Public Health and its affiliates, who demanded to stop the measures aimed at “destroying the college” or including it in the College of Allied Medical Sciences according to an ill-considered recommendation.

Academic sources told the daily, that the objection to the college’s abolition and its inclusion in another college stems from the importance of having such a specialized college in the country, especially since its majors are considered the nerve for public health in society, for example, studying epidemics, unhealthy diet, and chronic diseases such as heart. diabetes, cancer, and others.

Expansion
The question is why did the move to affiliate the college to another college came after the Corona pandemic, even though the world is moving towards expansion by providing medical and health cadres? The sources pointed out that the college, which placed Kuwait University among the Gulf universities in the region, was established in 2013, when the university administration realized at the time the importance of having such a college within the Medical Sciences Center group, to become a college specialized in graduating undergraduate and Master’s students comprising 5 scientific departments specialized in public health in the community — Departments of Environmental and Occupational Health, Epidemiology and Vital Statistics, Department of Health Policy and Administration, Department of Public Health Practice and Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences — which constitute an important element in supplying the local labor market, with graduates specialized in these important fields in the health and medical sector.

The sources indicated that the college includes graduate professors from the best universities specialized in their various fields, with high experience and efficiency, who were able to teach students over the previous years, to form effective outputs in the health sector, and it is expected that the health sector will be expanded over the coming years with more cadres. The sources indicated the importance of the college, by saying that the Ministry of Health, had organized a press conference to announce the establishment of the college in 2016, stressing the importance of having a college of public health in the country, considering that its establishment reflects the broad awareness of the main role that public health plays in protecting the health of individuals, communities and work to immunize it in the belief the college will have an active role in promoting community health by combating diseases, creating health awareness, eradicating health illiteracy and encouraging healthy lifestyles of individuals in the community.

The sources pointed out that the decision to affiliate the college with another college came without consulting the college professors. This may raise a question mark on the committee’s awareness of the importance of having a College of Public Health in the country. The sources stressed that the college’s performance should not be measured by the numbers of students it graduates only, as it is a newly established college, but its role should be measured by the quality of health contributions in various fields, such as the scientific research it is doing, especially research that leads to a better understanding of our health problems and changing health policies for the better.

Benefits
Among the benefits of the College of Public Health are rehabilitation of specialized health cadres, an active role in promoting community health, contribute to the fight against diseases and create health awareness, encouraging healthy lifestyles among community members, graduation of postgraduate students specializing in health fields, an increasing role after the Corona pandemic to confront epidemics and contribute to the face of high temperature and environmental pollution Faculty members and the supporting academic staff said, “We are surprised at the attempt to blow up the College of Public Health despite the need for it in light of epidemics. A group of faculty members and the academic support staff at the College of Public Health denounced the step taken by the university administration and the management of the Medical Sciences Center at Kuwait University to do away with the College of Public Health with its five scientific departments, and represent it in a single department in a college that has nothing to do with the College of Allied Medical Sciences.”