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1.
Regionalization of health services and decentralization of decision
making in specified technical, administrative and financial affairs.
2.
Emphasizing the role and importance of planning.
3.
Development of Education and Training in health.
4.
Emphasizing the importance of health systems research.
5.
Emphasizing the importance of regional and international relations.
His
Excellency the Minister of Health is assisted by three Undersecretaries
respectively for Planning Affairs, Health Affairs, and Administrative &
Financial Affairs. A number of Directorates-General and Directorates come under
each of the Offices of the Undersecretaries. The Health Council, which comes
directly under HE the Minister, is responsible for providing broad directions
for health development in the Sultanate. The Minister is also assisted by a
number of advisors and consultants, in addition to Directorate General of
Internal Audit, the Directorates of Public Relations, International Relations
and Legal Affairs.
The Office
of the Undersecretary for Health Affairs ensures effective and efficient
delivery of comprehensive health care to the people of Oman. The
Directorate-General of Health Affairs (DGHA) comes under this Office and
incorporates a number of directorates: Family & Community Health, Communicable
Disease Surveillance and control, Non Communicable Disease Surveillance and
control, Environmental Health, Malaria Eradication, Health Education, School
Health, Public Health Laboratories, Blood Bank Services, Hospital Affairs ,
Nutrition, Primary Health Care, Nursing Affairs, Community participation,
quality and patient safety and oral health. Through these Directorates, the DGHA
develops the implementation policies and procedures for effecting national
health policies, plans and programmes with the cooperation of the regional
health authorities, and monitors the entire health care process. It also
supervises the recruitment of health care professionals.
In keeping
with the decentralization policy of MOH, the Directorates-General of Health
Services and the Directorates of Health Servises at Health Regions are vested
with the responsibility for the delivery of comprehensive health care through a
network of hospitals, health centres and mobile units. The Regional Directorate
Generals directly function under the Office of the Undersecretary for Health
Affairs.
The
Directorate General of Pharmaceutical Affairs & Drug Control, under the Office
of Undersecretary of Health Affairs, develops and implements national drug
policy. It ensures the availability of drugs and other pharmaceuticals with
adequate quality at various levels of health care. Directorate of Rational drug
use, Directorate of Treatment abroad and Directorate of Private Health
establishment also follow Undersecretary of health affairs.
Planning
for health was emphasized when the strategies were revised and this led to the
establishment of the Office of Undersecretary for Planning Affairs with a number
of Directorates General and Directorates. These later function in coordination
to formulate the health plans for developing the health services and care. The
Directorate General of Planning incorporates: the Directorate of Health
Information and Statistics, which develops and maintains a database of
information necessary for planning; the Directorate of Research & Studies which
is responsible for developing health systems research capabilities and
conducting field studies, the Directorate of Planning which prepares the health
plans and special programmes and the Directorate of Monitoring & Evaluation
which monitors the implementation of the plans. The Directorate General of
Education & Training plays an important role in developing national human
resources for the health sector as an integral part of the national Omanization
strategy. The Directorate General of Information Technology promotes the
development of the health care system through extending support for the creation
and maintenance of computer-aided management systems.
A number
of Directorates-General (DG) function under the Office of the Undersecretary for
Administrative and Financial Affairs. The DG for Financial Affairs, through
three Directorates: Contracts & Purchases, Revenue & Expenditure and Budget &
Accounts, accomplishes the financial & accounting duties and contracts as well
as purchases according to the rules and disciplines. The DG Administrative
Affairs, through its Personnel and Administrative Services Directorates,
performs activities related to employment affairs within the agreed policies.
There is also the DG Medical Supply which makes the plans and policies regarding
stores including drug store and yearly produces estimates of costs of
requirements through its two directorates: Stores and Spare Parts. The DG
Engineering Affairs has three Directorates: Projects; Equipments and
Maintenance. It is responsible for civil, mechanical, electrical and biomedical
engineering and maintenance of equipment, instruments and buildings in addition
to looking after the development projects.
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