The National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) recently issued the Health Statistics Bulletin under the title "A pioneering health system with international standards". According to the health bulletin, the percentage of government spending on the health sector in the Sultanate by the end of 2019 reached 5.7% out of the total government spending, while the contribution of the health sector to the GDP at the current prices was at 2.9%, reaching RO 843.5 million.

The bulletin shows that the average monthly expenditure of Omani family on medical care reached RO 9, with the Governorate of Muscat ranking first in terms of expenditure on medical care, recording 1.5% of the total monthly expenditure in 2018-2019.

It also points out that the number of health care institutions in the Sultanate has reached 1,610, of which 58% are private clinics, reaching 937 clinics, compared to 83 public hospitals and 590 health complexes and centers.

The data also show that the percentage of hospital beds against the country's population decreased at the end of 2019, recording 15 beds per 10,000 inhabitants in the same year, compared to 15.6 beds per 10,000 inhabitants in 2015.

The Health Statistics Bulletin shows that the total number of medical cadres in the public and private sectors in the Sultanate, including doctors, dentists, nurses and pharmacists) by the end of 2019 reached 34,062, with about 9,602 out of the them being doctors. There were 7,045 doctors in the government sector, with 2,557 doctors in the private sector. The number of dentists reached 1,494, including 371 dentists in the government sector and 1,123 dentists in the private sector. There were 20,323 nurses, with 16,245 in the government sector, and 4,078 nurses in the private sector. The number of pharmacists in the Sultanate until the end of 2019 reached 2,643 pharmacists, with about 848 in the government sector and 1,795 in the private sector.

As for Omanisation in the health sector, the data point out that the percentage of national workforce in the Sultanate's health sector increased by 7% in 2019, compared to 2015. The Omanisation percentage among doctors reached 31% and among reached 50% until the end of 2019.

The percentage of national workforce in nursing was up by 11%, compared to 2015, while the percentage of Omanisation among nursing staff in the private sector remains 3% in 2019, with about 60% of doctors in the Ministry of Health being non-Omanis. The percentage of Omani doctors in the private sector is only 5%.

In terms of the population, the number of doctors in the Sultanate decreased from 21.4 doctors per 10,000 people in 2015 compared to 20.8 doctors per every 10,000 people in 2019. The number of nurses decreased from 46.3 nurses per every 10,000 people in 2015 to 44 per every 10,000 people in 2019.

As for the indicators of health in the Sultanate, the bulletin shows that the percentage of immunization coverage for children in 2019 reached 100%, while the doses of tetanus immunization provided to pregnant women reached 17,033 first doses and 38,878 second doses or more.

The new cases of malnutrition related to protein deficiency decreased from 854 cases in 2015 to 491 new cases in 2019, while the rate of malnutrition cases for children under the age of five decreased from 2.2 cases per every 1,000 children in 2015 to 1.2 cases per every 1,000 children in 2019.

The bulletin also points out that the percentage of new births attended by skilled health professionals reached 98.6%, while the maternal mortality rate decreased from 17.5 cases of death per every 100,000 live births in 2015 to 10.3 cases of death per every 100,000 live births in 2019.

However, the deaths due to complications of pregnancy, child birthing and postpartum increased in the public hospitals from 5 cases in 2015 to 6 cases in 2019.

As for the non-communicable diseases in the Sultanate, the bulletin shows that the year 2019 witnessed the registration of 6,430 new cases of diabetes, with about 54% of them being females. The number of inpatients with tumors in the Sultanate reached 5,386, with about 63% of them being malignant tumors.

In terms of infectious diseases, the bulletin shows that varicella (German smallpox) was at the forefront of diseases reported in 2019, with 10,139 patients; followed by 1,338 patients with malaria. Other infectious diseases, such as the food poisoning, binary infectious source, affected 606 patients. There were 368 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, 260 patients with and hepatitis, 134 cases with viral hemorrhagic fever (VVHF) and 109 cases with dengue fever.

As for deaths, the NCSI bulletin shows that the diseases of the circulatory system topped the causes of death in the Sultanate, with 955 cases of deaths in 2019, followed by respiratory diseases with 630 cases of deaths. Tumors caused 504 cases of deaths and infectious and parasitic diseases caused 341 cases of deaths. About 287 cases of death were caused by the side effects of postpartum period.  

The data also point out that infant mortality rate decreased from 9.5 cases per every 1,000 live births in 2015 to 7.9 cases in 2019, while the mortality rate for children under the age of five years decreased to 10.1 cases in 2019, compared to 11.5 cases in 2015.