Ortum Mission Hospital School of Nursing was started in 1969 by Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary, as a brainchild of Ortum Mission Hospital. It is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Kitale, and is currently under the management of Assumption Sisters of Eldoret.

The school started with Kenya Enrolled Midwifery training to provide young Kenyan women an opportunity to train as nurse-midwives to participate in health profession, to improve the quality of health care services to patients as well as to alleviate staff shortage. In 1985, the training was upgraded to Kenya Enrolled Community Health Nursing, with inclusion of male students in the training in July 1989. In September 2005, Kenya Registered Community Health Nursing was commenced in line with the Nursing Council of Kenya and Ministry of Health training policy.