Girma B. Gutema, Mussie G. Hadera, Abrham W. Dagne, Yohannes A. Mamo
Objective: Ancient Ethiopians relied on traditional and herbal medications and modern drugs were unknown to them until the turn of the 19th century. Earlier, education was under the monopoly of the church and medical practices were characterized by ritual healings. In the mid-20th century, the country established higher learning institutions which started teaching pharmacy and other sciences at tertiary levels. The curriculum was however the so called “product-centered” which until recently remained to be the guiding principle of the country’s pharmaceutical education. The trend in global context of pharmacy education and practice has been changing with the adoption and extension to a much more “patient-centered” philosophy. The recent organized move by most public-funded Pharmacy Schools and Departments in the country has witnessed some changes on their curricula which aimed at producing pharmacists with better clinical expertise.
This article critically analyses the changes on the curricular contents that have resulted due to the curricular amendments at the Department of Pharmacy, Mekelle University.
Methods: Systematic analyses of all the curricular documents (new and old) used by both the Mekelle and Addis Ababa University were carried out. International contexts of Pharmacy teaching were benchmarked to indicate future training directions in Ethiopia.
Results: The newly devised curriculum is “patient-centered” by the global standards though the Degree awarded remained to be the traditional B.Pharm. There are significant changes on the proportions of Professional, Supportive and General education courses as stipulated on the curricular documents.
Conclusion: With slight refinement to its curriculum, the Department can launch the Pharm.D program. The commitment of the government in resource allocation and training the badly needed experts to make it a reality will indeed remain to be the key
