The History of Rivers State College of Health Science and Management Technology
The College was established through a bill passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly, and signed into law on the 17th of August 2001 by the then Executive Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency, Sir Dr. Peter Odili. The enabling law thus brings under one administrative umbrella the long existing Schools of Health Technology, Nursing, Midwifery and Public Health Nursing. These schools have existed for over twenty (20) years.
The School of Health Technology was established in 1974 to train low and middle level manpower for the health sector. It existed as a unit under the Rivers State Ministry of Health and had six departments, namely: Environmental Health, Community Health, Medical Laboratory Science, Pharmacy Technician, Health Information Management and Dental Surgery Technician. The School of Public Health Nursing was established in 1979, to offer courses in Public Health Nursing and Community Health Officers programs. The School of Nursing was established in 1970 to train Nurses. The School of Midwifery was also established in 1970 to train Midwives registrable with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.
Under the new administrative structure, the departments in the former School of Health Technology are now run as schools. This brings the total number of schools of the College to ten(10), each headed by a Director of School.
Mission of the College
The mission of the College is to train well equipped middle level health practitioners to meet the growing health and environmental needs of Rivers State and the Nigerian nation at large.
| MOTTO | TOWARDS BETTER HEALTH |
| ESTABLISHMENT | 2001 |
| TYPE | PUBLIC |
| PROVOST | DR FRANLIN NLERUM |
| ACADEMIC STAFF | 75+ ( 2018) |
| NON-TEACHING STAFF | |
| STUDENTS | 2700+ (As at 2018) |
| LOCATION | ORO-OWO RUMUEME, KILOMETER 6 IKWERRE ROAD, PORT HARCOURT |
| LANGUAGE | ENGLISH |
| COLOR | BLUE |
| NICKNAME | RIVCOHSTECH |
| WEBSITE | WWW.RSCHST.EDU.NG |
| REGULATORY BODY | NATIONAL BOARD FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION |
How We Started
The upgrading of the school of Health Technology to the College became necessary following the desire of the school to train at higher level and upgrade existing courses.
This led to a visit to NBTE where the school was intimated that the under listed were required for upgrading to a College status that it needed to:
- Be established by law
- Be fully autonomous with a Governing Council
- Be properly set up with all relevant positions filled/occupied.
To this end the Ministry of Health set up a committee charged with
- Drafting the College law
- Working out schools/programme
The draft bill for the establishment of the College was presented at the State House of Assembly for legislation. The bill was passed and signed into law on the 17th of August 2001 by the Governor His Excellency Dr. Peter Odili.
The law brought together the four long existing independent Schools of – Health Technology, Nursing, Public Health Nursing, and Mid-wifery as the Rivers State College of Health Science and Technology.
The college formally took off in 2003 following the appointment of an Acting Provost Dr. N.V. Onyekwere by the Governor.
In 2009 the Schools of Nursing and Midwifery were pulled out of the College upon demand by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.