College Of Public Health Professors Object To The Merger With Another Institution

The College of Public Health and the College of Allied Medical Sciences are being merged, according to the acting deputy director of Kuwait University's Medical Sciences Center.

This occurs at a time when more medical staff is needed. The College of Public Health faculty and its affiliates oppose the merger step, calling it an ill-advised plan and demanding that actions aimed at "destroying the college" be stopped.

The opposition, according to academic sources who spoke to a local Arabic newspaper, is due to the significance of having such a specialized college in the nation, especially given that its majors are thought to be the very nerve for public health, such as studying epidemics, unhealthy diets, and chronic diseases like heart, diabetes,

The sources noted that the college, which listed Kuwait University among the Gulf universities in the region, was founded in 2013, when the university administration recognized the significance of having such a college within the Medical Sciences Center group. It was created to become a college specialized in graduating undergraduate and Master's students, consisting of 5 scientific departments with a focus on community public health — Departments of Environmental and Occupational Health.

According to the sources, the college employs specialized academics from the top universities with a wealth of expertise and effectiveness who are creating competent cadres for the health sector, which is anticipated to grow over the following years with the addition of additional cadres.

The Ministry of Health held a press conference to announce the college's founding in 2016, and the sources emphasized the significance of having a college of public health in the nation given that its establishment reflects the widespread awareness of the critical role that public health plays in preserving the health of individuals, communities, and work to immunize it in the hope that 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.

As a newly established college, the sources emphasised that the college's performance shouldn't be judged solely by the number of students it graduates, but also by the calibre of its contributions to health in a variety of fields, such as the scientific research it conducts, particularly research that improves our understanding of our health problems and changes health policies.

The College of Public Health offers several advantages, including:

1. Retraining of specialized health personnel

2- Playing a proactive part in advancing community health

3- Contribute to the prevention of sickness and raise public knowledge of health issues

4- Promoting healthy habits among the populace

5- The graduation of postgraduate health-related students

6- A growing role in battling epidemics since the Corona pandemic

7-Contribute to the problem of environmental pollution and high temperatures.

"We are startled at the attempt to blow up the College of Public Health despite its necessity in light of epidemics," the faculty and supporting academic staff stated.

A number of academic staff and faculty at the College of Public Health at Kuwait University objected to the decision made by the university administration and the management of the Medical Sciences Center to merge the College of Public Health's five scientific departments into a single department.

In a statement, the professors said, "It is sad and strange that this reactionary step came after Kuwaiti leadership and Kuwait University were the first in the Gulf to establish this college in 2013, which is one of the first public health colleges in the region. The strangest thing is that this happened in the wake of the Corona pandemic, which coincided with epidemics spreading in our Kuwaiti society due to poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, sucking— which are the main causes of death in Kuwait — in addition to environmental pollution, desertification and climate change in Kuwait in particular and the world in general, and what accompanies this includes diseases of the respiratory system, lung, heart, cancer and mental disorders.

The authors of the statement urged the university management to put a hold on any actions or decisions that might result in the College of Public Health being demolished or merged with the College of Allied Medical Sciences.

The following people have signed the statement:

► Abdullah Safar

► The power of the immortal

► High Saqr

► Dheer Al-Dawish

► Meryem Bouqmaz

► Hammoud Al-Jalahma

►Abrar Ahmed Hussein

►Dr. Dana Al-Tarah

► Dr. Saleh Al Sarhan

► Dr. Hala Al-Issa

► Dr. Iman Al-Awadi

► Dr. Manar Al-Awadi

► Dr. Farah Behbehani

► Mohammed Al-Marri

► Noor Bin Haider

► Maryam Al Hamad

► Bodour Mullah Youssef

► Jinan Al-Matrouk

 

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