Omanisation in medical jobs on the rise

Muscat: Along with increase in Omanisation across multiple medical jobs, there has also been a significant rise in the ratio between population and health workers in the Sultanate.

“During 2019, for every 10,000 population, there have been 21 doctors and 44 nurses in the country compared to nine doctors and 26 nurses in 1990”, reveals a report by the Ministry of Health (MoH).

Statistics show that over 40 per cent of WHO member states report to have less than 10 medical doctors per 10 000 population and over 26 per cent have less than three.

According to the Ministry’s Annual Report 2019, while the nurse-doctor ratio stood at two to one, the medical officer-specialist ratio remained one to two in 2019.

“The rate of Omanisation in the Ministry of Health throughout the years has increased in medical and paramedical categories”, points out the report.

The manpower indicators in the report show that Omanisation in the health ministry reached a remarkable 72 per cent. In the private sector health establishments, it stood at 10 per cent.

While the public sector accounted for 68 per cent of the total health staff, the private sector comprised 27 per cent of the doctors, 75 per cent dentists and 68 per cent pharmacists.

In the Sultanate, the public health sector consists of MoH and non-MoH with the latter consisting of Medical Services of Diwan of Royal Court, Royal Oman Police, Sultan Qaboos University and Petroleum Development Oman.

Out of the 72 per cent of the Omani staff, 97 per cent account for health administrators, 100 per cent for medical orderlies and 99 per cent for administrative support staff comprising white-collar staff, skilled and unskilled labor.

Omanisation among doctors, dentists, pharmacists and nurses collectively has reached almost 59 per cent in 2019 compared to 57 per cent in 2018. Nursing staff has seen a rise of 65 per cent in 2019 from 12 per cent in 1990.