Muscat – As per the community brief, a total of 28 Ministry of Health doctors performed surgeries in private health establishments during the official working hours in government hospitals, and during days on which they were not authorized to practice in private health establishments, which is in violation of the controls stipulated in the regulations.

The Ministry, having detected the violations, took a number of regulatory actions in accordance with the health sector. This included issuing circulars to all private health establishments to comply with the systems; declining permission for doctors to practice in private health establishments during their official working hours; forming a working team to study and evaluate some specializations in private health establishments to ensure their compliance with the Ministry’s specifications and requirements.

The brief also pointed out that repeated violations were committed by some doctors working in government health establishments by practicing medical profession in private health establishments without obtaining a license as regulated by the provisions of the Law for the Practice of the Medical Profession and regulations and decisions issued thereof, or practicing with an expired license.

Four violations and two warnings against one doctor were detected in one year.

SAI also reported that there has been recurrence of violations against some private health establishments as a result of allowing visiting doctors to practice the medical profession and allied medical professions without obtaining licenses or with expired licenses. It noted that 19 violations were detected against one private health establishment alone.

SAI community brief also highlighted that 17,521 referrals were issued by health establishments under the Ministry of Health to outpatient clinics at Khoula Hospital, and also that 12,018 surgeries were not scheduled during the period from 2017 to 2021.

Waiting periods have been scheduled and names of surgical patients have been entered into a system whereby appointments are prioritized based on each case. However, long waiting periods from the date of appointment arrangement to the actual date for meeting doctors in outpatient clinics and performing surgeries in Royal, Khoula, and Al Nahdha hospitals were found.