Muscat: In an effort to attract more investment to the private health sector, the Ministry of Health in Oman has implemented a series of measures. Dr Hilal al Sabti, the Minister of Health, recently made the decision to reduce charges for setting up hospitals and also waived fees for various services in the private health sector.
As part of these measures, licensing fees for institutions have been decreased and the validity period for the license has been extended. These changes apply not only to hospitals, but also to pharmacies, pharmaceutical factories, registration of pharmaceutical companies, health preparations, and the licenses of Omani medical and paramedical employees, with the aim of promoting Omanisation in private health institutions.
The new fees for obtaining or renewing a hospital license have been revised to RO 3,000 regardless of the location, compared to the previous fee of RO 5,000 in Muscat and RO 2,500 outside the capital. For setting up a pharmaceutical factory, the fees have been reduced from RO 2,000 to RO 1,500. Additionally, the fees for establishing a pharmacy have been set at RO 300 for a three-year period, as opposed to RO 300 in Muscat and RO 200 outside Muscat.
Furthermore, the fees for obtaining a license for private health institutions to employ doctors from government health institutions have been reduced to RO 300 from RO 500. The fees for obtaining a medical profession license for Omani nationals have been reduced to RO 20 from RO 100, and for expatriates, it has been reduced to RO 100 from RO 200, with a validity of two years in private health institutions.
