The idea to establish a Faculty of Health Sciences (FSK) was mooted in 1982 by the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Life Sciences UKM, and was brought up on the 75th Committee for Academic Planning and Development (JPPA) meeting held on 16 July 1991. This was in conjunction to the application of the Faculty of Medicine to introduce a new programme, Bachelor of Biomedical Science with Honours. Th
e idea to set up a new faculty was a justifiable since the Faculty of Medicine already had 18 departments and 17 graduate programmes and should not be burdened with applied Health Sciences programmes. In addition, the establishment of a new faculty would enable Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia to explore additional Health Science courses such as Physiotherapy, Audiology, Speech Science and others. Conceptual paper on the establishment of the faculty to be called the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences was agreed by the 204th Faculty of Medicine Meeting on 6 February 1991 and later forwarded to the 76th JPPA meeting on 4 November 1991. The Bachelor of Optometry programme, under the auspices of the Faculty of Medicine since 1982, and the Bachelor of Science (Dietetics) conducted together by the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Life Sciences since 1984 were jointly proposed with Bachelor of Biomedical Science programme which is was approved by the Ministry of Education in their 115th JPT Meeting on 28 January 1992. The Senate agreed on their 238th meeting on 20 November 1991 to recommend the establishment of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, and was approved by the Ministry of Education in their 116th JPT meeting on 9 June 1992. Simultaneously, three new departments, namely the Department of Biomedical Science, Department of Optometry and Department of Nutrition & Dietetics were established. Faculty of Allied Health Sciences took the step to change its name and restructured the departments and academic programmes in 2010. The proposed changing of name and restructuring had been agreed in the 97th Faculty of Allied Health Sciences meeting held on 7 April 2010 and put forward to the 153rd JPPA meeting on 10 May 2010. The Senate concurred on their 354th meeting on June 23, 2010 to recommend changing a the name of the Faculty to the Faculty of Health Sciences and the establishment of three schools, namely Schools of Diagnostic and Applied Health Science (PPSDKG), Rehabilitation Sciences (PPSR), and Healthcare Sciences (PPSJK). This restructuring also involves a change in the name of the two programmes, Optometry to Optometry and Vision Science, and Environmental Health to the Environmental Health and Industrial Safety. On 5 August 2010, the UKM Board of Directors in their fourth meeting of 2010 approved those changes and this was subsequently approved by JPT on their 4/2011 meeting on 8 February 2011. Faculty of Health Sciences is the first faculty in the country that offers comprehensive Health Sciences programmes. Its campus is located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur at Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, together with the Faculty of Medicine (Preclinical), Faculty of Dentistry and Faculty of Pharmacy. The diversity and dynamism of the city is also reflected in the personnel and programmes of faculty. In the early years, there were only three academic programmes which were Biomedical Science, Optometry and Dietetics. Subsequently, in the 1995-1996 session, four new academic programmes namely Nutrition Science, Pharmacy, Audiology and Speech Sciences were offered. The Diagnostic Imaging and Radiotherapy Programme was initiated in the 2000-2001 session, followed by the establishment of the Health Psychology Unit offering postgraduate programs in 2001. In the 2003-2004 session, the Physiotherapy and the Environmental Health were introduced and the Occupational Therapy programme was implemented in 2004-2005 session. The Forensic Science programme was introduced in 2006-2007 session followed by the Emergency Medical Sciences in the 2007-2008 session. In tandem with current developments, the Department of Pharmacy was upgraded to a separate Faculty on 1 June 2008. The Emergency Medical Science programme was annexed to the Faculty of Medicine on 13 July 2010. To date, the Faculty of Health Sciences offers 11 undergraduate programmes, 2 postgraduate diploma programmes, 5 master programme by coursework, 2 master programmes by coursework and thesis, 8 master programmes by research, and 8 doctor of philosophy programmes.
