Oman's Health Vision 2050 on Track with Oman International Hospital

Oman has a long strategic plan for its healthcare system Health Vision 2050. One of its first goals has just been achieved with the opening of the Oman International Hospital, the result of a partnership with Omani and Portuguese companies.

Oman International Hospital Opened

Oman's Health Vision 2050 is a strategic plan focused on building equitable and quality healthcare in this nation of just under 5 million people, 42% of whom are expatriates. One of its first goals has been achieved with the opening of the Oman International Hospital (OIH) in Muscat, the capital city.

The Oman International Hospital (OIH) was created as a shared project of a new healthcare group in the Gulf Region, Al Afia Healthcare Development and Investment Company SAOC, composed of three diverse shareholders: Suhail Bahawn Group, Oman Brunei Investment Company and IGHS - Idealmed Global Healthcare Services from Portugal.

As a teaching hospital, OIH has partnered with the University of Coimbra in Portugal, and in collaboration with Siemens, it will host a Medical Academy.

The hospital’s services will be opened in phases, with initially the emergency department, radiology, laboratory, and the outpatient clinic and related facilities welcoming patients. Additional departments and services will then become available over the course of the next few months. These include four centres of excellence, Women and Children’s Centre, the Heart Care Centre, Ortho and Spine Centre, and the Oman Vision Centre.

OIH is the largest private healthcare entity in Oman with 120 beds (and can grow to more than 200), 41 medical consultation offices, 73 observation/treatment/exam rooms, five operating theatres, three delivery rooms, an emergency department, a full range of intensive care units, a radiology department, a medical spa, R&D facilities and four laboratories.

Until recently, as many as 90,000 Omanis were forced to travel abroad for specialist medical treatment each year, but in recent years numbers have fallen significantly due to new hospitals offering specialist care in Oman, and the state greatly restricting the number of patients it sends abroad.

With hospitals and clinics of international standard opening in Oman, far fewer Omanis will need to go to nearby Dubai or further afield for medical treatment. The country may even become a medical tourism destination for the region, particularly for neighbours Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

Oman's Health Vision 2050

OIH is only one of a host of new hospitals, medical centres, and clinics in the pipeline  expected to play a major role in achieving Oman’s Health Vision 2050,  a strategy with aims to improve the health of Oman's people as the population grows and ages. 

• Demographic analysis shows that the total population of Oman is expected to double and become slightly more than 7 million in 2050. 
• The population is expected to age and the elderly population, aged 60 years and above, is expected to increase to about 13.1% of the Omani population, compared with 6.1% in 2012, and their absolute numbers will increase about five fold. 
• The epidemiological profile is rapidly shifting to non-communicable diseases related to personal behaviours, together with inherited congenital anomalies and congenital blood disorders. 
• Injuries from road traffic accidents and other injuries constitute a considerable burden because of premature deaths and permanent disabilities. 

The Ministry of Health has developed a long-term vision for the development of the health system in Oman. It is trying to answer the question; how would we like the health system to be 40 years from now? It aims to build upon the achievements in health status made in the Sultanate of Oman over the past 40 years, and improve upon them.

The current health care system in Oman is considered to be a national public health care model. Health services are predominantly financed and provided by the government sector. With such government commitment, the escalating costs of health care provision, expectations from the population, the required developments in human resources for health and health services, developments in medical products and technology, and sustainability of health care financing are of extreme importance and are extensively considered in the plan.

The “Health Vision 2050” defines the six building blocks of the health system:

• leadership and governance
• finance
• human resources
• service delivery
• information technology
• medical products, vaccines and technology. 

The "Health Vision 2050" document has 11 chapters. The first four chapters analyse and describe the current health system and health status. Each of the six building blocks of the health system is analysed and related visions are described in a chapter. The final chapter emphasises the importance of intersectoral collaboration in the future and how it will influence health improvements. 

The Oman Health Vision 2050 Main Document

If you wish to read more about this exciting new strategy for Omani healthcare, here are further details.

Oman Health Vision 2050

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