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Welcome to the Faculty of Medicine! The University was established in 1996 as part of Vignan Educational Foundation in the spirit of South-South cooperation under the Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Vignan Educational Foundation (VEF) of Bangalore, India initiated the establishment of the university in Tanzania at the behest of the Late Mwalimu Julius K Nyerere, the First President of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Faculty of Medicine became operational in 1997 when it was officially inaugurated by Shri I.K. Gujral the then Honorable Prime Minister of India on September 17, 1997. The faculty offers degree programmes in Medicine and Allied Health Sciences.
Medical science as an academic discipline is ultimately concerned with using scientific research methods to treat illnesses contracted by genetic and environmental factors, and contribute to the overall health of, human beings. In order to fulfill these objectives, areas addressed in medical science range from those on molecular and cellular levels to internal organ and individual person levels, all the way to topics that involve society or the world as a whole.
The Faculty of Medicine mostly deals with both biomedical sciences and clinical medicine. The students aspire to become medical doctors or one of the allied health professionals but the ultimate subject of all boils down to one subject, the patient. All must possess knowledge of the human being at the molecular level as well as an understanding of organs. Just as important, however, is being constantly aware of the fact that the subject of one’s studies or treatments is a human being with a personality, and is therefore not all that different from us human beings. Human beings are highly complex social beings in need of physical, mental and spiritual health. If any of this component suffers it affects the whole person. Therefore the practice of medicine is both an art and a science and should be considered wholistically.
The responsibility of a medical professional is to take a patient, who is a human being just like herself or himself, and help them to recover from whatever illness or disease that is affecting them. The high level of knowledge and latest techniques gained from the continuous advances in medical sciences contribute greatly to helping patients recover from illnesses. Utilizing these new techniques and expert knowledge for the sake of helping patients is what brings the most joy.
Nevertheless, illnesses, at times become so overbearing that they control our fates, leaving medical science powerless to do anything to treat or prevent them. In such cases, we identify the mechanisms of these illnesses and develop new methods of treatment for them. We need to understand the cause of disease rather than treating just the symptoms. By doing so, we can be prepared to fight against these illnesses when they appear again, prevent them, shorten their duration or treat their undesirable outcomes in future patients. However, this process is by no means successful every time. As fellow human beings who share the same eventual fate of death, it must be said that one of a clinical doctor’s duties is to protect the dignity of their patients.
Research both at the molecular and cellular level is necessary In order to accomplish the goals set forth by medical science. Basic research is both necessary and vital in order to contribute to medical science, requiring the understanding of disease mechanisms at the molecular and cellular level. This knowledge and skills are necessary even though it may seem they are indirectly related or unrelated in treating illnesses. Questions of how changes on the molecular level affect an individual organism’s composition and behavior are now being asked. This kind of research, which bridges the molecular level to the individual level, has increased greatly in recent years. This is where laboratory medicine play a key role in clinical research.
Meanwhile, involvement with society and the entire world are also topics that fall within the wide-ranging domain of medical science. The subject area that covers these kinds of topics is called social medicine. As social medicine is concerned with pressing issues such as changes in disease proportions, an aging population, industrial waste and its effects on health, and the difference in health between advanced and developing countries, research in this area of study will continue to become more and more of a necessity. Also, changes in society have brought about the need for a reform of nursing education, which is currently being implemented. Accordingly, the Faculty is making great efforts to train talented people who will be capable of managing and teaching in high-quality nursing education programmes.
As explained above, the Faculty of Medicine covers a wide range of subjects, spanning from the molecular to the global level.
One more special characteristic of medical science that bears mentioning is that there is no end to medical science. If, for instance, a groundbreaking new treatment for cancer that reduced death rates were developed, perhaps Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related and lifestyle-related illnesses would take center stage. In other words, solving one problem leads to the next difficult problem appearing. This cycle is one of the major characteristics defining medical science and can continue to be applied to the present day.
We sincerely hope that many of you who are reading this are interested in medical science and want to join us in our fight against illness! The Faculty of Medicine is committed to this cause and you can make a difference!
To train competent medical, laboratory and nursing professionals with appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels by:
To provide consultancy services to government, Non-Governmental Oganizations (NGOs), other institutions and individuals.
To provide continuing medical education (CME) to health workers.
Carrying out research in order to advance medical knowledge and science for the benefit of human welfare.
The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the academic mission and achieving the objectives associated with the Universities five planning pillars which are administration, education, research, clinical care, and community engagement. The Faculty Dean shall be the Head of the Faculty providing direction to the faculty in carrying out it’s functions and shall be responsible to the Vice Chancellor through the Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academics, Research & Consultancy (ARC) in respect of:
1. Executing all academic and administrative policies, plans and strategies for improving academic excellence in the Faculty.
2. Preparing and administering the budget of the Faculty.
3. Managing the resources allocated to the Faculty.
4. Supervising, coordinating and overseeing the activities and functions of the respective Faculty.
5. Constituting the Board of the Faculty.
6. Chairing meetings of the respective Board of faculty.
7. Advising the Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academics, Research & Consultancy (ARC) on the appointment of of Academic Heads of the Departments.
8. Supervision of Heads of Department.
9. Be responsible to the Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academics, Research & Consultancy (ARC) on all matters of pertaining to academic administration in the Faculty.
10. Perform other related duties assigned by the Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academics, Research & Consultancy (ARC)
1. Delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes offered by the Faculty.
2. Ensuring staff development plans are in place.
3. Ensuring the quality of trainees (medical students, graduate students, residents, fellows, and postdoctoral trainees).
4. Maintaining and enhancing undergraduate, graduate, graduate medical education, and continuing medical educating, including providing coordinated oversight of the curriculum and curricular change.
1. Overseeing the research agenda including fostering of interdisciplinary programs, basic research, clinical research, and translational research.
1. Ensuring the clinical environment provides high quality patient care and is conducive to appropriate integration of the educational and research programs;
1. Assuring active engagement and collaboration with community partners to improve health through partnership, outreach, health advocacy, and engaged scholarship.
2. Promoting a community of diverse faculty, residents, students, and staff.
3. Infrastructure and Leadership.
4. Developing and maintaining good relationships with students/trainees, faculty, staff, and alumni.
5. Fostering professionalism, diversity, and a positive work/learning environment.
The IMTU Faculty of Medicine is organized into 14 departments A - Z:
The faculty provides quality education in the areas of Medicine, Medical Laboratory Technology and Nursing. The core degree programmes offered by the Faculty are:
The programmes offered gives students a complete range of knowledge and practical skills that are necessary to pursue a career in medicine and allied health sciences. The main objective of the Faculty of Medicine is to provide quality education to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes required for their practice. The intake of students is limited in order to enable an individual approach; practical training is organized in batches and small groups so that students can experience individual contact with patients. Our graduates are well-equipped to pursue careers in Medicine, Medical Laboratory Technology and Nursing professions.
The IMTU competency based curricula of the MBBS curriculum enhances integrated medical teaching and emphasizes the teaching and learning of clinical skills. Teaching at the Faculty focuses on developing students’ practical skill by incorporating practical placements into the teaching system from the very first semester. Teaching Laboratories with adequate facilities to accommodate 80 students caters to the need of practical training and hands on experience in the biomedical departments of Anatomy & Histology, Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology & Parasitology, Pathology & Forensic Medicine.
The IMTU clinical skills laboratory provides the learner with an environment to practice clinical skills before using them in real clinical settings. The skills laboratory helps to ensure that all students acquire the necessary techniques and are properly assessed before practicing on real patients. The term ‘clinical skills’ involves history-taking, physical examination, clinical investigations, using diagnostic reasoning, procedural perfection, effective communication, team work and professionalism. The Lab allows students to take part in safe and consistent clinical skills training on models and mannequins. This allows for repetitive practice of select medical clinical skills. Through repetition and immediate feedback from staff and faculty, students can successfully integrate knowledge and skills learned in medical school.
The Faculty works closely alongside the IMTU Hospital, and a range of other medical and health care institutions , both in the public and private sectors. IMTU Hospital is a 50 bedded community hospital catering to the health needs of the general public, staff members and students of the University. Casualty and emergency services are available 24 hours. Consultancy out-patient and in-patient services in the specialties of Internal Medicine, Community Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, General Surgery, Opthalmology, Dentistry are provided by our specialists in the clinical departments. The hospital alos has attached Pharmacy and Diagnostic facilities such as Clinical Laboratory, X-Ray Unit, ECG, CT Scan are available 24 hours. It serves as a teaching hospital to our students. In addition, the hospital often conducts free medical camps in the neighborhood communities and on the campus so that the needy sections of the society can get free medical advice and affordable care. Our staff and students participate in conducting free medical camps for screening people who are at risk of diabetes mellitus, or create cancer and HIV/AIDS awareness and it’s prevention by participating in public rallys or marathon events.
IMTU has also entered into agreement for training of our students in government facilities by Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Clinical training in the four major clinical subjects (Internal Medicine, Paediatrics and Child Health, Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynecology) are done at the Mwananyamala & Temeke Regional Referral Hospitals. Psychiatry training is done at Mirembe Psychiatric Referral Hospital. Surgical Specialty Training sessions are also scheduled at the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute (MOI), Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI), Mnazi Mmoja Health Centre and Tumbi Regional Referral Hospital. Community Medicine and Nutrition Field Project rotations are conducted in Ubungo District health facilities.
The Faculty’s key research priorities reflect issues which are of primary importance to public health on both the national and regional levels. Students at the Faculty are closely involved in a range of research activities, regularly participating in student research projects which are supervised by our faculty members. The Faculty hosts a one day annual IMTU Scientific Conference. Our students are active members of TAMSA (Tanzania Medical Students Association) which also conducts seminars and student scientific conferences.
The Faculty of Medicine also cultivates links with the local community, organizing and participating in a range of educational promotional events such as World Diabetes Day, World AIDS Day & the World Cancer Day. As a matter of policy and 5 year strategic rolling plan it has been earmarked to organize and participate in all the following 10 events including the eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Blood Donor Day, World Immunization Week, World Tuberculosis Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Malaria Day and World Hepatitis Day.
Our Alumni are our testimonials. Many of our alumni hold responsible positions both in both the public and private sectors.
From it’s inception in 1997 IMTU has so far produced the following number of graduates.
Postraduate training and research is an integral part of the faculty and so far IMTU has produced the following number of postgraduates.
1. Master of Medicine (MMed) – 12
2. Master of Science in Human Anatomy (MSc ANA) – 5
3. Master of Public Health (MPH) – 73
4. Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Medicine – 16