Omanisation rate in the Ministry of Health is 70%

The rate of Omanisation in the Ministry of Health (MOH) has increased among doctors from nine per cent in 1990 to 38 per cent in 2017 and nurses from 12 per cent in 1990 to 62 per cent in 2017. The latest annual report says Omanis constitute 70 per cent of the total staff working in MOH as on December 31, 2017.

They account for 96 per cent of the health administrators, 100 per cent of the medical orderlies and 99 per cent of the administrative support staff (white-collar staff, skilled and unskilled labour).

Omanisation among doctors, dentists, pharmacists and nurses collectively has reached almost 55 per cent in 2017, compared to 54 per cent in 2016.

“Because of the increase in the number of graduates from local training institutions, there has been a substantial increase of Omanis in the recent years in certain categories,” the report said.

The percentage of Omani nurses is 62 in 2017 compared to 61 in 2016 and radiographers 61 compared to 59 in 2016.

During 2017, for every 10,000 population, there are 20 doctors and 43.7 nurses in the country compared to nine doctors and 26 nurses in 1990. The nurse-doctor ratio is 2.2 and medical officer specialist ratio is 1.3 in 2017.

Private sector 9 per cent

While the public sector accounts for 70 per cent of the total health staff, the private sector accounts for 25 per cent of doctors, 73 per cent of dentists and 73 per cent of pharmacists.

Percentage of Omanisation in the private sector is nine per cent, which indicates at the increasing number of Omanis over the past years at the MoH.

There has been an increase in medical staff at the MoH in 2017 compared to 2016; doctors have increased by 0.2 per cent, pharmacists by 4.7 and laboratory technicians by 0.6 per cent, while the nurses decreased by 1.2 per cent.

There are 21 private hospitals, 468 general clinics, 232 specialised clinics and polyclinics, 289 dental clinics and 51 Chinese and Indian clinics. The number of private pharmacies is 672 in 2017. In 2017, The number of manpower in the private sector is 12,343 of which 1,008 are specialised doctors, 1,161 general practitioners, 982 dentists, 1,795 pharmacists, 3,799 nurses and 549 lab technicians.

This article originally appeared on: http://www.omanobserver.om/70-omanisation-in-health-ministry/