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Oman Health
Developments in the health and medical sector
paralleled
those in education. In 1970 there was one twelve-bed
hospital
operated by United States missionaries and nine government
health
centers. In 1990 there was a total of forty-seven
hospitals,
compared with fourteen in 1980. The number of doctors
increased
from 294 to 994 in the same ten-year period, and the
number of
nurses more than quadrupled from 857 to 3,512.
The government's health policy is directed at achieving
a
level of health care that approaches its goal of Health
for All
by the Year 2000. Included among the health priorities of
the
Ministry of Health are strengthening curative services,
particularly in urban areas, and improving preventive
services,
with the emphasis on communicable diseases and
immunization. The
Public Health Department of the Ministry of Health is
responsible
for mass immunizations for smallpox and other infectious
diseases. The government stresses delivering maternal and
child
health care at the village level to decrease the infant
mortality
rate, estimated in mid-1992 at forty-four per 1,000. Life
expectancy in mid-1992 was sixty-four years for males and
sixtyeight years for females. The government is also expanding
its
education program, especially with regard to maternal and
child
health care. In July 1987, the country held its first
workshop on
acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) to increase
awareness
of the problem in the medical community. Contraceptives
are
available at private hospitals and dispensaries and
through
commercial outlets. Abortion is illegal except when the
mother's
life is endangered.
Although adequate health facilities exist in urban
centers,
coverage in rural areas remains insufficient. As a result,
the
government is continuing to develop health services as an
integral part of national development. The Fourth
Five-Year
Development Plan (1991-95) allocated RO48 million (for
value of the
Omani riyal--see Glossary),
which is equivalent to US$124.7
million, for this purpose. Ministry of Health plans
include a 100-bed hospital in Al Buraymi and a 200-bed hospital at
Ar Rustaq, southeast of Qurayyat, to replace the existing
medical facility in Ar Rustaq and to serve as a central, referral
hospital for the region. Other projects include replacing
all outpatient clinics at the Royal Hospital polyclinic in the
capital and building a new 200-bed hospital at Ibri and a
200-bed
hospital at Tanam, in the interior north of Ibri.
Data as of January 1993
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