MUSCAT : The Ministry of Health, in a decision issued in June this year, had compiled a comprehensive list of infectious and communicable diseases that harm public health, and which will be treated free of medical charges for both citizens and expatriates.

The diseases on the list include cholera, yellow fever, malaria, all types of tuberculosis, rabies, plague, both neonatal and adult tetanus, acute flaccid paralysis, pediatric AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, acute respiratory infections caused by Covid-19 and by influenza viruses (requiring hospitalization), diphtheria, leprosy, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, chickenpox, smallpox, whooping cough (children under 5 years), hemorrhagic fevers of all types, pneumococcal disease (children under 5 years), cerebrospinal fever (children under five), measles, rubella, congenital rubella, brucellosis, dengue fever, monkey pox, active trachoma, Hepatitis E and Hepatitis A, as well as emerging infectious disease syndrome, and cases classified as a public threat according to the local criteria and the WHO.

The Ministerial Decision No. 126/2023 also specified that expatriates employed in the government sector and their families are eligible for free medical treatment. As per Article 4 of the resolution, with the exception of injuries resulting from traffic accidents and cases covered by insurance coverage, the free treatment services are available for GCC citizens residing in Oman for a period of no less than three months; foreigners married to Omani women (including husband, children born to the Omani wife from this marriage); foreign women married to Omanis; foreign parents of an Omani residing in Oman; foreign parents and children of the foreign husband or wife of Omani origin residing in Oman.

The free treatment service also includes foreigners working in the government sector and their families according to their service contracts; and foreign members of the diplomatic corps and their family members according to the annual tables issued.

New categories added to those covered by exemption from all previously specified fees, include patients with an epidemic or infectious disease that threatens public health; their contacts and suspected cases; organ donors for one of the categories specified in the decision; children benefiting from expanded immunization program; all beneficiaries of national vaccination campaigns; and circumcision operations for converts to the Islamic religion in the Sultanate of Oman.

The regulation specified detailed fees for its services. The fees for those eligible for free treatment, however, are unchanged with regard to registration, annual renewal, and admission to tertiary, secondary, and primary health care hospitals for VIPs, private nursing ward, and a private room in the general ward.

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