The Ministry of Health (MOH), represented by the Information & Statistics Department of the Directorate General of Planning & Studies issued the Annual Health Report 2018.

The report shed the light on the main achievements of the health sector in the Sultanate along with the most common health & vital indicators and the sustainable development goals indicators, as well as a brief for the most important MOH studies and researches over the past years.

The report has ten chapters that clarify health inputs, outputs and procedures. It also contains an introduction about the demographic and geographic features of the Sultanate in addition to the administrative structure and organization of the Ministry and an executive summary of the Health Vision 2050. Most of the health indicators are revealed in this report in a time series since the beginning of the blessed Renaissance (1970).

The report shows the description and development of the indicators related to various health fields of the Ninth Five-Year Plan and the achievements that have been made over the first three-year of the Plan.

Chapter 10 of the report describes the available health services provided by other authorities other than the Ministry of Health along with information about the private sector.

The report also contains a number of publications such as "Statistical Overview of 2018", "Health Facts of the Annual Health Report" and health facts about births and deaths in all health institutions in the Sultanate. 

In order to extend the health services, in 2018, MOH has opened Wadi al-Sail Health Center in Al-Wusta Governorate; Shalim Health Center has been upgraded to be a hospital, therefore, by the end of 2018 there were 185 health centers, 22 health polyclinics and 50 hospitals contain 5027 beds. Several services have been added to these institutions to improve the quality of the health services provided at all levels.  

The health workforce has also developed, in which the total number of workers in the Ministry of Health has reached 39303 by December 2018 at an Omanization rate touched 71%.

As for the vital indicators, the crude birth rate reached 32.2 per 1000 population in 2018 and the crude death rate per 1000 inhabitants touched 2.7. The under-five mortality rate per 1000 live births reached 11, while the infant mortality rate per 1000 live births touched 8.5 in 2018. The calculation of these indicators is part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ratified by the Sultanate as one of the member states of the World Health Organization.

The report also showed the control of measles disease, in which, 12 cases have been recorded in 2018 after the number of cases reached 133 & 97 in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The Sultanate has remained free of many diseases such as polio since 1993, diphtheria and neonatal tetanus since 1991. The incidence rates of other communicable diseases have decreased to lowers levels.  

The report touches upon morbidity and mortality pattern that shows a continuing change in the Sultanate’s epidemiological map. The apparent decline rates in non-communicable diseases incidence because of the Ministry’s efforts undertaken in this field came parallel to the increase in recording non-communicable diseases, which most are attributed to the patient’s personal care and lifestyle.  For combatting such diseases, efforts of various health-concerned authorities are needed to be combined with individuals’ ability to change one’s lifestyle. This might result in reducing the burden of NCDs-related morbidity on individual and community, taking into consideration the relatively long-term treatment besides the availability of advanced and costly resources at the same time.

The data of MOH hospitals’ inpatients points out that 4 out of 10000 persons were admitted due to hypertension diseases, while 6 out of 10000 persons were admitted due to diabetes. Cardiovascular diseases caused about (26%) of hospitals total deaths, and (10%) of the deaths are caused by cancers. The report indicates that there is a steady increase in non-communicable diseases rate where it reached 44.2% among outpatient clinics, and 39.8% among inpatients.

Road accidents are a key factor in increasing the number of injuries, disabilities, and deaths in the Sultanate. Statistics of these accidents show that the magnitude of the problem remains huge. Although the number of road accidents had declined in 2018, number of injuries and deaths remain high. The MOH institutions have received (466) road accidents-related deaths before arriving to the health facility or prior to admission in the wards, in addition to (79) deaths at the hospitals among inpatients of road accidents.

The expansion in the health services over the years has led to a steady increase in the use of the services.  The 2018 has seen a slight decrease in the number of visitors in outpatient clinics as they reached 15.5 million visits by a (3%) decline compared to last year. in 2018, the average number of outpatient clinics visits per Omani was 5.7 visits. Approximately, (336000) patients have been admitted and treated in MOH hospitals with an average of 3.3-day hospital-stay length and (60.6%) beds occupancy rate.

The report shows the different surgical procedures performed in MOH institutions as the total number reached (122000) operations in 2018, out of which are more than (52000) major surgery, and (70000) minor surgery, representing (43%) and (57%) respectively.

The report also contains plenty of statistics on utilization of health services such as admission, laboratory, radiology, and dialysis, etc...

The Department of information & Statistics is the central body responsible for providing reliable accurate information and data for each planning, monitoring and evaluation processes in a timely manner thus contributing in the proper planning and decision-making procedures. Information are made available to all health workers in the various departments and sections.

Moreover, the Department is providing the Sultanate’s health indicators to the international organizations and bodies including World Health Organization (WHO), The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in addition to the academic and research centers.  

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