Oman: Immunization coverage for children in 2022 reached 100%

Muscat: The number of health care establishments in the Sultanate of Oman reached 1,848 in 2021. Of those, 65% are private clinics, according to the Health Bulletin 2022, issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The number of workers in public and private health establishments stood at 56,119. Moreover, the rate of coverage of children’s immunizations in 2021 reached 100%.

As for the average number of per capita visits per year to the outpatient clinics of the institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Health; The bulletin indicated that it decreased from 3.5 percent in 2017 to 2.7 percent in 2021, and the governorate of North Al Batinah came the highest in terms of patients’ visits to outpatient clinics in the institutions of the Ministry of Health, reaching 19 percent of the total visits in the governorates in the Sultanate of Oman. Only the Ministry of Health decreased by 20 percent between 2017-2021.

With regard to indicators of health and healthy behaviour; The bulletin shows that the rate of immunization coverage for children in 2021 reached 100 percent, while the maternal mortality rate increased significantly from 20.2 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2017 to 45.7 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021, and Al Buraimi Governorate came the highest. among governorates in the percentage of caesarean section deliveries out of the total number of deliveries in the institutions of the Ministry of Health; As it accounted for 29.7 percent in 2021.

The bulletin also indicates that the Governorate of North Al Batinah is the highest in cases of ear diseases, with a rate of 22 percent of the total cases. The bulletin indicated that the total visits to psychiatric clinics in the Governorate of Muscat amounted to 4,233 visits, which is the highest among the governorates in 2021.

As for deaths resulting from infectious and parasitic diseases, they topped the causes of death in the Sultanate of Oman, as they caused the death of 2,691 patients in 2021, or 44 percent, followed by diseases of the circulatory system, with 983 deaths, and the respiratory system, with 635 deaths.

While the percentage of surgical operations performed in the institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Health decreased between 2017 and 2021 to more than 44 percent, as for the number of x-rays performed, the middle governorate was the least in number; As it amounted to 0.89 percent of the total radiation done in the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, the bulletin also mentions an increase in the number of blood donors in blood banks by 22 percent between the years 2017 – 2021.

The Health Statistics Bulletin shows that dialysis centers, with the increase in the number of patients, witnessed a qualitative and quantitative expansion with the establishment of 24 centers that provide services to 2,275 patients. 2021.

Spending on the health sector amounted to 7.8 percent of total government spending in the Sultanate of Oman in 2021, while the contribution of the health sector to GDP at current prices amounted to 3.4 percent. The sector contributed about 33,909.8 million OMR.