Royal Institute of Health Sciences

The Royal Institute of Health Sciences or RIHS was established in 1974. It offers training of nursing professionals with knowledge, skill and motivation to provide healthcare services to the people of Bhutan. RIHS is located in Thimphu city, nearby the JIgme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital. It is the only health training institute in Bhutan that aspires to fulfill the requirements of health human resources to provide with intensive healthcare needs to the people of the nation.

Departments in Royal Institute of Health Sciences

Royal Institute of Health Sciences has four major departments,

Nursing
Basic Science
Community
Midwifery

Read below to know about each of these departments in Royal Institute of Health Sciences.

Nursing

The nursing department got established under the leadership of Dr. Chencho Dorji, director of Royal Institute of Health Sciences in April 2008. This department includes all the areas of nursing and medical surgical nursing.

Basic Science

Basic Science is another important department of the college that focuses on academic excellence and professionalism.

Community

The department of community health consists of the study of health and diseases in a population to understand their health needs. The objective of community department is to provide excellence in teaching and research to students and to promote prevention of disease in a community.

Midwifery

The midwifery department practices its programs on the basis of scientific, technological and evidence based resources. Aim of this department is to offer a quality maternal healthcare to the Bhutan's society.

Programs of Study in Royal Institute of Health Sciences

Royal Institute of Health Sciences offers several programs in health care to students. Read below to know about these programs.

The Royal Institute of Health Sciences offers courses in the following departments:

Nursing
Basic Health Science
Community Health
Midwifery

Following are the programs that RIHS offers:

Diploma in General Nursing and Midwifery with duration of 3 years- Full time
B.Sc. in Public Health with duration of 4 years- Full time
B.Sc in Nursing and Midwifery with duration of 4 years- Full time

General Nursing and Midwifery in The Royal Institute of Health Sciences

This program started in July 1982 under the project BHU/HMD/002. General Nursing and Midwifery is a three years course, after which the students are awarded with a Diploma. Students can opt for this program after passing 12th grade and after successful completion the General Nurse Midwife or GNM are posted as staff nurse in BCSR Grade 9.

It is important to note that both male and female candidates can choose this career, but preference is given to the female candidates due to the nature of job responsibilities.

After serving as General Nursing and Midwifery for 5 years and fulfilling requirements of aptitude, students get selected for B.Sc nursing conversion program. Later on, after the completion of Bachelor’s students can also pursue for Master and Doctoral degrees. Besides nursing and midwifery, GNM includes courses in Anatomy and Physiology, Psycho-sociology, Food and Nutrition, First Aids, Medical Emergencies, Pharmacology, Microbiology, etc.

Public Health in The Royal Institute of Health Sciences

This program was launched in April 2010 to up-grade and produce health workers, in order to provide leadership in the field of public healthcare. Furthermore, it has 20 modules consisting of 5 modules of 12 credits each in every semester of the program.