Healthcare in Oman has been effective in increasing life expectancy, decreasing child mortality and detecting diseases because there is a focus on preventative care. Preventive care is intertwined with the idea of accessible primary care because it encourages early detection of disease as well as easy and unburdened emergency care
The accomplishment of healthcare in any country depends entirely on the strength and reliability of its primary healthcare system, which helps people enhance their physical and mental health, as well as social well-being, thanks to its equitable, cost-effective and efficient approach.
In the Sultanate of Oman, the healthcare sector has developed by leaps and bounds in the last few decades, with the authorities placing it in line with international standards as one of the main strategic directions of Oman Vision 2040.
The Health Vision 2050 is an attempt to channel all available healthcare resources and plan for the future needs of the population. The Vision takes into consideration various factors, including predicted population growth and challenges related to technology and products.
According to the 2020 Annual Report of the Ministry of Health, there are over 200 healthcare units throughout the Sultanate of Oman which mainly come under three categories based on location, size and services offered.
Health centres and polyclinics come under the primary healthcare units and provide general treatment services to both rural and urban areas.
Multi-speciality regional hospitals come under the secondary healthcare units, whereas the tertiary healthcare units comprise large national hospitals with various core specialisations.
The public, private and civil sectors – all are working jointly in order to set up an expanded system that provides universal and just healthcare across the Sultanate of Oman. Such action is in complete harmony with the way forward for the Omani health system laid down by the Health Vision 2050.
“The Sultanate of Oman has made tremendous headway in the area of health development, which was reflected positively in the main health indicators,” points out the report 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In particular, death rates dropped remarkably over the past years, especially among infants and children under five years of age, which led to a rise in average life expectancy at birth, adds the report.
Healthcare in Oman has been effective in increasing life expectancy, decreasing child mortality and detecting diseases because there is a focus on preventative care. Preventive care is intertwined with the idea of accessible primary care because it encourages early detection of disease as well as easy and unburdened emergency care.
The average lifespan of Omanis reached as high as 77.2 years, with 75.2 for men and 79.2 for women at the end of 2019 against 49 years in 1970.
Women outlive men by approximately 4.1 years on average, with the female life expectancy at 78 years and the male life expectancy at 73.9 years. These averages are by no means abnormal on a global scale and are due to men being more prone to heart disease and accidents on the roadways.
The country ranks eighth in life expectancy out of the 19 Middle Eastern countries and fifth out of the seven countries on the Arabian Peninsula. The UN projects that the average Omani life expectancy will reach 80 years in the early 2030s. This is in large part due to the country’s advancing healthcare system.
On the other hand, the maternal mortality ratio decreased from 26.4 per 100,000 live births in 2010 to 20.2 in 2017. Similarly, the child mortality rate and infant and newborns — aged less than one month — mortality rate dropped to 9.5 and 6.3 per 1,000 live births, respectively.
As for children under the age of five, they also registered a decline in mortality rate to 11.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2017, in contrast with 21.7 in 2000.
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