HISTORY

The School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia was first established in June 1979. In the early development of the school, the pre-clinical years were carried out in the Penang campus while the clinical years were conducted at the Kelantan campus. The school was fully operational at Kubang Kerian, Kelantan by June 1990. The Kubang Kerian, Kelantan Campus was established on 220 acres of land and it encompasses the School of Medical Sciences and the USM Teaching Hospital, which was established in October 1983. The move to the Kelantan campus consolidated further the academic, service and research activities of the school.

More recently, two new schools have been estalished. The School of Dental Sciences and Allied Health Sciences are now also fully operational. The kelantan campus is now known as the Health Campus, USM and also houses the Kelantan branch of INFORMM, a research institute for research in molecular medicine. Kubang Kerian is 6.6 km from Kota Bharu, the state capital of Kelantan. Kota Bharu has a population of around 420,000 while Kelantan state population is 1.2 million.

The main Universiti Sains Malaysia ( USM ) campus is located in Minden, Penan and was established in 1969. USM was founded after an agreement made on a resolution approved by the Penang State Legislative Council in 1962, which suggested that a university college be established in the state. An area in Sungai Ara was identified and later the foundation stone was placed by the then Prime Minister, Y.T.M Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj on the 7th of August 1967.

In 1969, the University of Penang was established in responce to the need for a larger campus with a more conducive environment, appropriate to the needs of the future of the country. In April 1969, Professor Hamzah Sendut was elected the first Vice-Chancellor. Two months later, a group of 57 students was accepted to begin their studies. Since the area in Sungai Ara could not be developed as fast as required, the group was placed at the Malaysian Teachers' Training College at Bukit Gelugor on loan from the Education Ministry. In 1971, the campus, which was originally planned to be situated in Sungai Ara moved to its present site, Minden, an area measuring 500 acres.

The ear, nose and throat specialty was initially functioning as a unit under the Department of Surgery in 1983, together with Ophthalmology in 1993 it was established as the Department of ENT and later as Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (ORL-HNS). The Department started its first postgraduate program Master of Medicine (ORL-HNS) in 1997, subsequently the Department developed the Maxillofacial as well as the Audiology and Speech Pathology Units.

Previously Department of ORL-HNS manages patients with ORL-HNS and maxillofacial problems in Hospital USM. It undertakes a multidisciplinary approach in research, participating in academic and research activities within USM as well as the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. The Department is a referral center especially for patients in the East Coast of Malaysia and is active in social work  providing services to the deaf and other members of community.