by Khalsa Al Siyabi 
Head of Respiratory Care Services – Headquarters

The Respiratory Care Section of the Directorate General of Specialized Medical Care (DGSMC) at the Ministry of Health (MOH) Sultanate of Oman — Muscat recently organized a virtual event to mark World Respiratory Care Week, which is observed in the last week of October, under the theme “Together we Save Life — Thank you,“ with the presence of Dr. Kadhim Jaffer Suleiman, SMC Director General. 

The celebration aimed at spreading the spirit of cooperation among all respiratory care employees in the various hospitals of the Sultanate, in addition to encouraging them to work tirelessly, especially during the increasing work pressure at Intensive Care Units due to the COVID-19 pandemic along with the difficulties faced by health staff in general and respiratory care professionals in particular.

Dr. Kadhim Jaffer Suleiman delivered a speech in which he explained the importance of the respiratory care profession and its effective role in saving the lives of patients, indicating that in health institutions there are good specialists in respiratory care working on the first lines of defense with nursing staff and intensive care physicians to fight the pandemic. Respiratory care specialists are managing and operating the latest artificial respirators and solve various patients’ respiratory problems.

The Director General of Specialized Medical Care pointed out that the Ministry of Health has made tremendous efforts to develop and promote respiratory care field in all the Sultanate’s hospitals.  Specialists of respiratory care are regularly conducting training courses for doctors and nurses in all referral hospitals. They are further implementing all medical policies, especially for COVID-19 patients.

The Director of the Supportive Services Dr. Maryam Abdullah Al-Waili, noted further the efforts exerting in developing this specialty which include following up inpatients and patients who were provided home ventilators, providing the necessary support from the private sector institutions.

“This specialty is currently one of the important specialties in hospitals and health institutions, as there is a need for respiratory care specialists daily around the clock in critical departments such as adults and pediatric intensive care, emergency rooms, operations theaters, delivery rooms, and other departments of the hospital,” emphasized Khalsa Al-Siyabi, Head of the Respiratory Care at the DGSMC.

Al-Siyabi called upon higher diploma students to join the available respiratory care department scholarships through Higher Education Admission Center, giving its importance as well the need for national cadres in the specialty of respiratory care in all country’s health institutions in the future.

It is worth to mention that the respiratory care profession is one of the relatively modern applied medical specialties, originated in the United States of America. The Sultanate has introduced it initially in the Royal Hospital in 1990.