MONGOLIAN MEDICAL EDUCATION: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Abstract

The ancient traditional system of medicine and medical education has a long history of several hundred years, whereas it has been merely 80 years since modern medical education developed in Mongolia. Beginning in the 17 th century when Mongolia was under the rule of Manchu Qing dynasty and had suffered for over 220 years, a Mongolian traditional medical school named Mamba Datsan was founded and has been developing ever since. In 1911 the National liberation movement abolished Manchu ruling and the nation stepped onto the path towards independence. As Manchu Qing dynasty laws and rules were abandoned, Manchu Tibetan script fell out of use and monasteries were closed down, the country’s shift into a new system caused the old system of medical education to be demolished and altered. In 1921 People’s revolution won in Mongolia, feudalism was abolished and Soviet style culture started flourishing. Overcoming obstacles is a difficult and a time consuming challenge while transitioning from an old system to a new one. Through the relations built with the USSR, the first steps were built for Europian Medicine and the Europian Medical Education [EME] system started to pervade. In specific, preparation of junior physicians and nurses commenced in Mongolia. In 1942 the government of the Mongolian People’s Republic made the historically pivotal decision to found National University of Mongolia (NUM) with three faculties including Faculty of Medicine . Initially the Faculty of Medicine had a shortage of teaching staffs, textbooks, laboratories and other resources, but thanks to the contributions made by Russian teachers the Medical Institute of Mongolia (MIM of) became an integral part of the curriculum. This is how the contemporary medical education system developed in Mongolia scince 1942 until 2022. By starting to select and train the first graduates as the teaching human resource base by 1942-1961, the faculty of medicine stood on its feet as an independent Medical Institute of Mongolia . At that time Russian style curriculum for preparing physicians was still being used. In 1990, the Medical Institute of Mongolia expanded and became the Medical University of Mongolia (MUM). From the founding of NUM and until mid 1990s, MUM single handedly fulfilled the role of preparing generations of medical doctors in the healthcare system in Mongolia.