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Dr. Ahmed Al Qasmi, Director-General of Planning, Ministry of Health
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Muscat: Oman government is building a major medical city near Muscat with a huge capital expenditure of OMR567 million, which is going to be the second such facility after the proposed International Medical City in Salalah promoted by Saudi-based Apex Medical Group.
"The proposal for the medical city has already been approved by the Cabinet and now we are working on identifying land. It will be between Muscat and North Batinah region, where the concentration of population is high," said Dr. Ahmed Al Qasmi, Director-General of Planning, Ministry of Health.
He was presenting a paper on the upcoming healthcare projects in the Sultanate at the Oman Construction Summit here yesterday. Dr. Al Qasmi said the medical city will have a general hospital with a capital expenditure of OMR200 million, a pediatric hospital with an investment of OMR60 million, a specialised tertiary hospital with an investment of OMR65 million and several other state-of-the-art healthcare facilities.
Design stage
Presently, the project is in the conceptual design stage. Dr. Al Qasmi said although Oman has made tremendous progress in developing primary healthcare facilities, the country is lacking specialised hospitals. "We are the eight best in the world in primary healthcare facility. But we are lacking specialised hospitals," he said, adding; "This can be resolved by building medical cities and tertiary hospitals."
He said the country needs more specialised hospitals, to create medical facilities for advanced treatment, which will check people going abroad for treatment. The proposed medical city will also have a shopping mall, residential buildings and other healthcare facilities, which will be initiated by the private sector.
Healthcare outlay
Dr. Al Qasmi said the government is planning to spend OMR331 million during the Eighth Five-Year Plan for various hospitals, primary health centres and other healthcare facilities. These include a major hospital in Muscat (Bowsher) with a capital expenditure of OMR140 million, a hospital in Salalah (OMR48 million) and a hospital in Dalkoot. "The work for building many of these hospitals has not yet started. A tender will be floated this year for a hospital in Suwaiq."
Dr. Al Qasmi said tertiary hospitals are also needed to meet the anticipated healthcare needs in view of a change in demography in the next forty years. Dr. Al Qasmi said presently, 38 per cent of Oman's population is under 15 years, which will undergo a drastic demographic change in the next forty years. "We will have more people above 60 years." The healthcare strategy has to be formulated taking into account this demographic change.
The diabetic disease in Oman is one of the highest in the world, while the number of cancer patients is increasing. "All these need tertiary hospitals." Elaborating on the long-term forty-year master plan called Health Vision 2050, he said; "We need better coordination between the ministries of education, environment and agriculture." Education is needed for reducing malnutrition and accident cases.
He said the forty-year healthcare master plan will be submitted the cabinet by April for approval. The Sultanate's healthcare expenditure is 2.4 per cent of the gross domestic product, which is very efficient.
"The healthcare expenditure is only 4.9 per cent of total government expenditure in Oman, which is against the global average of 13.9 per cent."
The ministry is planning to increase Omanisation in healthcare sector by way of providing scholarships for students as well as in partnership with academic institutions abroad for training.
The three-day event of Oman Construction was organised by Global Exhibitions and Conferences and International Quality and Productivity, in cooperation with the Ministry of Housing and support from Omran. The opening address was made by Salim Al Aufi, CEO of Public Authority of Civil Aviation.
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