Oman posts 31% increase in health sector exports

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Muscat – Oman’s export in the health sector increased 31% since 2018, posting a total value of export to the tune of RO37mn.

The country’s import for the health sector also showed an increasing trend since 2018, as the data confirmed a rise in the total volume of transactions till the end of 2022.

According to a report released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), Oman’s exports of various items used in the healthcare system touched RO37,859,552 in 2022, while the value of imports rose to 287,078,165 – registering an increase of 21% since 2018.

Oman’s re-export volume increased by 42% since 2018; currently standing at RO8,631,049 in monetary value.

Thus total value of transactions in the health sector in 2022 went well over RO1bn.

‘The value at current prices for the total health activity between 2018 and 2022 in the Sultanate of Oman increased by 31%, recording RO1,122,400,000 till the end of 2022, while the worth of the total production in the sector till the end of 2022 amounted to about RO1,450,800,000, constituting 2.7% of the sultanate’s GDP’, NCSI reported.

Oman’s expenditure for the production of various items for the healthcare system amounted to RO328.4mn.

Statistics show that the total health sector expenditure of Oman in 2022 was 14.4% of the country’s total expenditure, compared to 12.4% in 2018. The health sector revenues constituted 1.5% of the total government revenues (non-oil) in 2022 as against 1.2% recorded in 2018.

The number of government and private hospitals in Oman now stands at 91, while the number of private pharmacies reached 975. The total number of hospital beds at present is 14.7 per 10,000 population.

The sultanate witnessed the per capita hospital visits decreasing from 3.4 in 2018 to just 3 in 2022.

According to the NCSI report, the number of healthcare staff in both government and private health institutions reached 58,838, with 19.1 doctors and 43.1 nurses deployed for each 10,000 people.

The clinical strength of hospitals decreased by 1.5% between 2018 and 2022, while the bed occupancy fell to 59.5% in 2022 from 60.6% in 2018, indicating a decrease in number of patients needing hospitalisation.