Health Ministry issues annual report
MUSCAT: The Ministry of Health (MoH) represented by Department of Information and Statistics of the DirectorateGeneral of Planning and Studies (DGP&S) issued the Annual Health Report 2016.
The report highlights the achievements of the health sector in the Sultanate in addition to the most remarkable health and vital indicators. The report of this year is distinct as it includes a synopsis of Health Vision 2050.
The report contains ten chapters that involve an introduction of the demographic and geographic characteristics of the Sultanate, the administrative structure of the Ministry of Health, summary of the Health Vision 2050. It also presents health indicators over past years since 1970 and followed by clarification of the health resources that include use and distribution of health institutions, health workforce, the financial aspects, projects and human resources development.
The report also addresses the health status and achievements of the various health fields of the ninth fiveyear plan, as well as describing the status of morbidity and mortality. The tenth chapter includes the health services by other healthcare providers. Finally, the report concludes with glossary and definitions as well as list of studies performed by MOH.
The expenditure of the Ministry of Health has seen a remarkable increase over the years to keep pace with the needs of the population growth requirements and expansion of health services both quantitatively and qualitatively in all the governorates, in addition to the change of diseases patterns and the increasing cost of healthcare services.
The report shows that the total expenditures of the MOH for 2016 was RO 792.96 million compared to about RO 892.2 million with 11.1 per cent decrease. The development expenditures accounted for RO 35 million and the recurrent expenditures was RO 757.96 million. The percentage of MOH expenditures to the total government expenditures reaches 6.3 per cent.
Regarding the manpower development in the health field, the report shows that by the end of 2016, the number of MoH workers reached 39,197 with 69 per cent Omanisation.
It should be noted that the Directorate-General of Planning and Studies represented by the Department of Information and Statistics focuses on the statistical data and information in order to evaluate its five-year plans and work on the applicable scientific planning.