The Ministry of Health (MOH) represented by the department of Supportive Services, in collaboration with the Directorate General of Royal Hospital and the Omani Association of Anesthesia (OAA) held recently second conference under the title, “Enhanced Recovery after Caesarean Section (ERACS) 2018” at Crowne Plaza Qurum. The opening was held under the auspices of His Excellency Dr. Sultan bin Yarub Al Busaidi, MOH’s Advisor for Health Affairs with the presence of number of MOH and RH officials.

The conference started with an opening speech by Dr. Mariam Abdullah Al Waili, director of Supportive Services MOH, expressing her gratitude towards all healthcare professionals who contributed in making this conference a great success and has then discussed the details of this conference. She pointed out that according to the ministry’s reports since 2012, there has been an increase in Caesarean section operations in the Sultanate of Oman, and this has resulted in more hospital admission, increased length of stay and increased complications. Furthermore, the overall percentage of CS in Oman since 2012 has been deviating away from WHO guidelines which state that the percentage of CS from all deliveries must be less than 15%. These figures clearly indicate the importance of establishing a standardized protocol for implementing the principles of ERAS in these cases.

Dr Medhat Shalabi, Head of Anesthesiology and Critical care, from Dubai, then addressed the principles of ERACS and its benefits in reducing the complications and decreasing the length of stay within hospital premises. His lecture was then followed by Dr Wafa, a senior consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology in Dubai, who addressed ERAS application in Caesarean Section.

His Excellency then visited the exhibition that accompanied this conference.

The number of participants has reached approximately 160 from various medical and paramedical specialties from the MOH’s hospitals and the Armed Forces Hospital and Sultan Qaboos University Hospital. Furthermore, medical and paramedical specialties include obstetricians, anesthetists, nurses, midwives, physiotherapists and dieticians.

It is worth noting that the ministry of health had held this conference previously as the first conference for enhanced recovery in March 2017.