Friday 23 / May / 2025
Salalah: Amidst the rising number of coronavirus cases in the Dhofar Governorate, the Directorate General of Health Services has taken a slew of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 infection and ensure better care for those admitted in various wards of the Sultan Qaboos Hospital in Salalah.
In an urgent meeting, the COVID-19 Epidemic Preparedness Committee at the Directorate General of Health Services -Dhofar formed two task teams, one chaired by the Director of Nursing and the second headed by the hospital Assistant Director for medical and allied medical affairs.
The teams were tasked with enumerating the nursing and medical staff working at the primary health care institutions and the Sultan Qaboos Hospital to be distributed in a way that ensures the provision of services to COVID-19 patients in the hospital wards and other health institutions in the governorate.
Moreover, on-the-job training of the technical staff was initiated so they can work alongside the medical staff and support them in confronting the rising numbers of admitted cases in isolation rooms and Intensive Care Units. Thus the vital signs of these cases will be followed up constantly.
The Committee decided to close three health centres in Salalah city, which are the Health Centres of Al Dahariz, Salalah Al Jadidah, and Hejayf. The personnel of these centres will support the personnel working at Sultan Qaboos Hospital in Salalah.
In addition, the committee decided to temporarily stop all unnecessary surgeries, suspend leaves of health workers, prevent visits at Sultan Qaboos Hospital, and reduce work in specialised clinics up to 30 per cent.
It also decided to include the administrative and technical human cadres working in the Medical Fitness Centre to support the hospital as the work at the centre was temporarily suspended.
The workforce from the medical and allied medical categories is being redistributed, and the hospital’s shift schedule is being resumed to deal with the growing pressure on medical services.
Doctors in the Accident and Emergency Unit and primary health care institutions were instructed to promptly report cases of deaths resulting from the COVID-19 via the Tarassud application.
On the community aspect, the new appointment schedules of the specialised clinics in Sultan Qaboos Hospital in Salalah and the mechanism for providing monthly medications to people with chronic diseases were announced and disseminated.
Meanwhile, a joint working group has been formed including the Department of Pharmaceutical Care and Medical Warehouses in Dhofar Governorate and the Salalah Medical Warehouse Department at Sultan Qaboos Hospital.
The team count kits of medical materials and medicines used in the prevention and treatment of admitted cases, as per the approved national protocol to treat the symptoms and complications of COVID-19 disease.
It further follow-up their availability in sufficient quantities to cover the needs of patients, in addition to providing PCR COVID-19 testing solutions for the hospital’s molecular laboratory, and making sure that all of these needs are available without having to send samples to the Governorate of Muscat.
The epidemiological investigation team at the General Directorate of Health Services of Dhofar Governorate will continue to monitor and investigate cases of COVID-19 in the governorate.
The team is concerned with receiving case numbers from various public and private health institutions in the governorate, recording positive cases and PCR results, contacting patients and investigating their personal data, symptoms and close contacts, in addition to issuing isolation decisions for contacts.
At the level of primary health care institutions, one health centre has been divided into two parts. The first part is allocated for checking patients with COVID-19 symptoms, and the other part is set for other diseases. This was processed as a preventive measure to limit the spread and transmission of infection between patients and health service providers.
It should be noted that a number of senior officials from the Ministry of Health have visited the Governorate of Dhofar, among them are Minister of Health Dr Ahmed Mohammed Al Saidi, and the Ministry’s Undersecretary for Health Affairs Dr Mohammed Saif Al Hosni. The visits were aimed at reviewing the progress of the provided medical services and assessing the health status after the recent high rates of COVID-19 infections in the governorate.
