Need to do more more on healthcare front, says Oman's Majlis panel member

Muscat: With diseases such as diabetes and heart diseases increasing in Oman, not enough is being done by authorities to tackle this problem, Hilal Al Sarmi, member of the Health Committee of the Majlis Al Shura told the Times of Oman.
“There is a huge increase in non-infectious diseases in Oman, like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases. We have not seen a direct intervention by the Ministry of Health to prevent these diseases,” he said.
When asked about what the Ministry of Health is planning to prevent diabetes, Minister of Health, Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Saidi told the Times of Oman on the sidelines of the opening of the Renal Dialysis Centre on Sunday, that education is the only way to prevent such diseases.
“Education and a healthy lifestyle are the only way [to prevent diabetes]. Adherence of the patient to a treatment and a healthy lifestyle, physical activities, a proper diet, and stopping smoking and other bad habits, will, if not stop the disease, slow its progression and hopefully slow or prevent the complication arising from these diseases,” he said.
Al Sarmi said more is needed. “We have heard this talk so often, but we don’t see anything realised,” he said. He said that although there are programmes in place to raise awareness, they are weak and not sustained. He said that more co-operation should be sought with the relevant parties to organise awareness campaigns in public places such as malls. “They say there are programmes, but we don’t see them. If there are strong programmes in place, then why do we see an increase in the number of cases?” he asked.
The Majlis Al Shura will host the Minister of Health on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss his statement on the Ministry’s plans to improve health facilities, their current status, the training of Omani staff, health expenditure and other matters.
Al Sarmi, who has read the statement, said that it has stated that the number of cases of non-infectious diseases has increased. “This number ought to only increase slightly, be steady or even decrease. This means that the ministry’s actions are insufficient,” he said.
Al Saidi recently told the Times of Oman that the number of kidney patients in Oman is increasing “rapidly”, with 12 to 15 new patients every month needing kidney dialysis.
Al Sarmi said that the ministry should widen its awareness campaigns. “I believe in an increase of the number of awareness programmes through various means, through TV, WhatsApp, Twitter, several websites,” he said.
In addition, authorities should reach out to the public in parks, mosques, schools and even in the privacy of people’s homes. “Visiting homes to raise awareness is not forbidden. The most important way of getting rid of these diseases is awareness, since these are lifestyle diseases,” he said.
According to Al Sarmi, another problem is that in Oman there are no ways to discover non-infectious diseases before they actually surface.
Al Sarmi said that his committee will also ask the minister about the increase in the number of smokers in Oman. “We do not see any real action on this issue,” he said.