It offers diploma and certificate programmes for nurses, medical technicians and other primary health care workers.
[2] Health infrastructure is improving in Bhutan and the number of trained human resource officers is growing, but the country still had only two doctors for ten thousand people in 2005.
The RIHS cannot train doctors, so Bhutan must send candidates to neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka for their MBBS course.
A joint initiative between La Trobe University, the World Health Organization and the Royal Government of Bhutan gives Bhutanese qualified nurses the opportunity to obtain a bachelor's degree.
[5] The RIHS offers a two-years certificate program in Physiotherapy, following which the students work for a few more months in the general referral hospital, before servicing various districts across the country.