The Sultanate of Oman has been designated today (Monday) as the Wold Health Organization (WHO)  Collaborating Centre for Quality & Patient Safety. The Centre shall have representatives from all the health sectors in the Sultanate and shall be placed in the Ministry of Health (MOH), represented by the Directorate General of Quality Assurance Centre.

This was announced by Dr. Ahmed bin Salim al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for Eastern Mediterranean Region during his speech during the opening ceremony of the Ministerial Meeting “The Road to the Universal Health Coverage in the Eastern Mediterranean Region”.

In this regard, Dr. Al-Mandhari said: “The Sultanate of Oman has made a significant progress in the field of Quality and Patient Safety over the past decade. There has been continuous collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and with WHO Headquarters, specifically in developing and implementing patient safety tools, such as “Safe Surgery Saves Life”, “Clean Care Safer Care”, “Patient Engagement and Empowerment for Patient Safety” and “Reporting and Learning Systems for Safer Care” as well as in operational research on patient safety and quality. At the Regional level, substantial efforts and achievements have been made with the use of the Patient Safety-friendly Hospital Initiative, which now covers 26 hospitals across the government and private sectors in Oman”.