Message from The Deputy Vice Chancellor

THE VISION
The vision of the College is to make COMAHS one of the best Medical Schools in the sub-region, housed in one central well designed campus with appropriate infrastructure and having highly-trained, committed, and well-motivated staff; enrolling adequate numbers of academically qualified students and producing and retaining, at least 80% of its graduates in Sierra Leone, for optimum health care service delivery.

THE MISSION
The mission is to train community-oriented Doctors, Pharmacists, Nurses, Laboratory Scientists, and other health personnel, with sound professional and managerial skills; suitably qualified to meet international standards and capable of undertaking research and pursuing further training in specialised areas for optimum health care service delivery.

ENROLMENT AND FACULTY
Starting with an enrolment of only 12 students, 35 years later, the college’s enrolment rate has increased several folds, and today it stands at above 3,000 of which 40% are males and 60% females. This academic year, 404 students were admitted into medicine; 264 BPharm (Hons); 450 BSN (Hons), 289 Advanced Diploma in Pharmacy, 122 BSc (Hons) in Medical Laboratory Sciences, 24 Diploma in Medical Laboratory Sciences; and 500 Higher Diploma in Nursing; and at least 50 into various Research Postgraduate degrees with 15 enrolled for PhD. The increased intake of students this year was made possible as a result of the implementation of the Re¬engineering Project which was facilitated by the wider University, to restructure faculties, departments, and units.

Consequently, the faculties at COMAHS have been expanded to now include the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Clinical Sciences and Dentistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery; Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences and Diagnostics; and Faculty of Public Health and Infectious Diseases.

INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT
It is still our dream to have a centralised Campus at Kossoh Town, although we only have 15-acres of land left out of the 65 -acres originally assigned to the college, the rest have been lost to painful encroachment by Sierra Leoneans. Notwithstanding we have been engaged in infrastructural development and improvement in our multiple operational sites in and around Freetown. These include but not limited to: the construction of perimeter fences at our Kossoh Town Campus & the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, an amphitheatre & eight classroom blocks which can accommodate more than one thousand students; the renovation and equipment of COMAHS’s facilities located at PCMH, Mount Aureol, Kossoh Town, Connaught Hospital, Lamina Sankoh Street, and at the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery (including but not limited to renovation of student hostels, libraries, classrooms, skills & clinical laboratories, & Internet resource centres); the establishment of the USL Research & Innovation Support Office (USL, RISO); and the acquisition a 30-acres of land in Kambia District for the construction of the USL Research Centre.

RESEARCH
As research is one of our mandates as a University, the College continues to be a national leader in health research and capacity strengthening in Sierra Leone, generating the much-needed evidence to inform policy and practice in health. The College has been able to attract several Research Grants to the USL thereby creating jobs for thousands of Sierra Leoneans in the field of research. This has also provided the platform for faculty to be engaged in high profiled and world class clinical trials and health system research including but not limited to the STRIVE study, EBOVAC I, EBOVAC 3, PREVAC, PREVAC UP, Malaria Vaccine trial, Rebuild, RECAP-USL, ICARIA, MULTIPLY AND PREVSL. Our current research portfolio includes 6 Clinical/vaccine trials (2 on Ebola Virus Disease, 1 Covid- 19, 3 Malaria vaccines); 4 Health systems research; and 3 Disease Specific research (Stroke, Diabetes, and Laser fever).

COMAHS in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the USA, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, provided the national technical leadership for the investigations of vaccines against Ebola Viral Disease thereby leading to the licensure of these vaccines by both European Medicine Authority (EMA) and the USA Food and Drug Authority (FDA) for global use.

The establishment of the USL, RISO, by COMAHS, is to preposition the college and by extension the nation to respond to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases; as this outfit aims to provide support for epidemiological studies, clinical trials, etc, and also for grants administration and management including data management, surveillance, logistics, communications and grant writing opportunities.

GRADUANDS
This year, COMAHS is pleased to present 53 newly qualified Doctors, 30 Pharmacists, 40 Pharmacy Technicians, 73 Graduate Nurses, 64 State Registered Nurses, and 64 Laboratory Assistants/Technicians for the conferment of degrees and approval of Diplomas & Certificates. These young men and women are deserving of our commendation because they have successfully brought honour to the College, themselves, and their parents and guardians. Thus, on behalf of USL and the College in particular, I would like to congratulate them for this remarkable achievement and wish them well in their future undertakings.

APPRECIATION
Our success over the years is as a result of not only our resilience but also because of the good will and support of His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Retired Brigadier Dr. Julius Maada Bio, the Visitor of the University, and His Government, particularly the Ministries of Technical and Higher Education, and Finance. Through the collaborative efforts of these two ministries, the USL has over the years benefitted from staff salaries, and subventions; and at COMAHS at least 75% of our students are beneficiaries of the GoSL Grants-in-Aid. This gesture has significantly ameliorated the financial burden on the students. Thus, on behalf of the University and College Administration, I would like to particularly thank His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone and to extend our profound gratitude to Him and the Ministers of Technical and Higher Education, and Finance, for their support to the education in general and tertiary education in particular, especially medical education in Sierra Leone.