College of Health Sciences (COHES) UMMC which was established in 1967 is a centre under the University Malaya Medical Centre offering training and education programs at Diploma, and Advanced Diploma levels, Competency workshop and short courses in health sciences fields.
In 1967, University Malaya Medical Centre (formerly known as University Hospital), with the assistance of World Health Organization (WHO), established Advanced Nursing Education Program (ANEP). The main objective of setting up the program is to prepare nurse tutors for the planned University Hospital College of Nursing. The other objectives are to train midwifery instructors and nurse administrators. In 1968, the University Hospital College of Nursing was formed. At the same time, Advanced Nursing Education Program continued its training programs for the nurse tutors and nurse administrators.
With the rapid development of UMMC, more trained health sciences staff are required and the College of Radiography was started in 1990 to train radiographers for UMMC. Small intake of students – not more than 30 – every session, and the availability of good teaching and learning resources enable us to produce radiographers who are knowledgeable, competent and professional in carrying out their duties.
In 1996, College of Medical Laboratory Technology was set up to train medical laboratory technologists to fulfil the staffing needs of the hospitals expanding laboratory. Meanwhile the Advanced Nursing Education Program started to offer a 6- month certificate course in nursing specialty and the students were nurses from UMMC and private organisations. The course duration was later extended to 1 year, the certificate upgraded to advanced diploma and by then there were 10 nursing specialty courses being offered.
In April 2012, all the colleges moved to Wisma R&D and they continued their operations from there. In April 2013, all the 4 colleges were merged and named College of Health Sciences (COHES). The main objective of the merger is to strengthen the administration and academic supervision of all the program. College of Health Sciences is headed by a Principal and 4 Program Heads, each for Advanced Diploma in Nursing, Diploma in Nursing, Diploma in Radiography and Diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology.