The 22^nd Meeting of the Gulf Central Committee for the Expatriates Health Check-up Program of the GCC Health Council commenced today at the City Seasons Hotel Muscat.

The Meeting is hosted by the Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and attended by Dr. Saif Al-Abri, Director General of Diseases Surveillance & Control along with Dr. Harib Al-Lamki, Director General of Primary Healthcare and Member of the Executive Body of the Health Council.

The two-day Meeting reviews the most important objectives of the program which is maintaining the health security of the GCC Member States.

Dr. Harib Al-Lamki, praised the importance and the main role of the Program which ensuring the fitness and health suitability of expatriates and free from infectious diseases that may pose a health and security risk to GCC countries, as well as guarantee that they are free from chronic diseases, which would constitute an economic burden. 

A delegation from the General Secretariat participated in the Meeting to address the latest developments of the Program and to provide the necessary facilities in order the GCC countries implement the decision that has been made during the 37th GCC Supreme Council Session of the GCC leaders held in Bahrain 2016. The decision stressed that the GCC embassies, consulates and relevant authorities should ensure the health of the incoming expatriates through the e-link of the Expatriates Health Check-up Program before issuing visas to enter the GCC countries.

On the other hand, Dr. Mohammed Al-Yazidi, from the Directorate General of Diseases Surveillance & Control pointed out that the Meeting highlights a number of important issues including the immunization program that the expatriate undergoes before enter the GCC countries, the new medical check-ups to detect the infectious diseases. The Meeting will also review the numbers of tested individuals in the Program, touch on the most important detected diseases and categories, as well as the possibility to extend the Program to cover other countries.

Al-Yazidi also reviewed the latest developments of the Program in the Sultanate and the role of the relevant authorities to implement all the Program's recommendations in order to prevent the Sultanate and the GCC countries from these diseases.

It is worth mentioning that the Expatriates Health Check-up Program is one of the most important preventive programs in the public health, as it authorizes the examination centers in the labour-exporting countries, which in turn perform the medical check-ups scheduled in the Health Council Examination lists before issuing visas in order to limit the entry of inappropriate health cases to the GCC countries.

The results of the Program indicates that the percentage of inappropriate cases, which entered the GCC countries before the adoption of the Program ranged between 17% -20% and gradually decreased approximately to 0.5% after applying the electronic connectivity system.