Muscat: Majlis Ash’shura held its 10th regular meeting of the third annual session (2021-2022), under the chairmanship of Khalid bin Hilal al Maawali, on Monday.
The meeting saw the presentation of an urgent matter by Hameed bin Ali al Nasseri regarding the shortage of medical staff and retreat of healthcare standards at the health institutions since 2014 due to the financial crisis. It said that the health institutions have lost hundreds of national medical professionals and health workers due to retirement or resignation.
In order to overcome the problem, Al Nasseri proposed some recommendations which included applying the medical regulation particularly with regard to the promotion and incentive packages of the medical professionals and reinstating the government-funded scholarship and qualification programmes for the medical and assistant medical staff especially senior nurses to rectify the problem of staff shortage.
The urgent matter requested the Ministry of Finance ratchet up the allocations provided to the Ministry of Health and the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital and the construction of hospitals and health centres the allocations for which have have been halted for years as well as the provision of medicines, cleaning and maintenance and replacement of old vehicles and medical equipment.
Another urgent matter presented by Mansour bin Abdullah al Saeedi, member of the council, shed light on the delay in the maintenance of some schools that were affected by cyclone Shaheen. It said that the government’s efforts to provide services for citizens are undeniable. However, he added, after six months have passed since cyclone Shaheen some sectors have been rendered non-functional, citing the example of Zahrat Al Madaen School which comprises 948 students and 80 teaching and administrative staff. The school has not been included in the maintenance schedule for this year and the students and teachers have not been shifted to another school.
The meeting approved a proposal for adding an article to the Oman Penal Law to allow the publication of judicial rulings in cases of betrayal of public trust and crimes related to public office.
The council approved an agreement on air transport services between the governments of the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Tajikistan referred by the government in light of the visions of the Services and Social Development Committee.
The council also approved a report submitted by the Services and Social Development Committee regarding an agreement for regulating air transport services between the governments of the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and an agreement for air transport services between the governments of the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Senegal.
The council approved an expressed desire for increasing the retirement pension in light of the opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee. Ahmed bin Said al Sharqi, head and rapporteur of the committee presented the justifications for submitting the request, pointing to the need to alleviate the burden on retired citizens to enable them to meet the increasing costs of living and advancing economic activity by booting the purchasing power of individuals on the background of the economic downturn and the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The meeting also approved an expressed desire to increase the monthly pensions for social security families as per a suggestion made by the Services and Social Development Committee. The expressed desire is based on the fact that the current social security pension falls short of meeting the minimum basic needs. The Services and Social Development Committee confirmed that it is working on legislative review of the Social Security Law to achieve the required social security standard.
The council also approved a report submitted by the Youth and Human Resources Committee on the expressed desire to provide an integrated clinic at the sports complexes and an ambulance with medical staff specialized in sports medicine. The committee agreed to the desire in principle and recommended the activation and application of the legal articles regulating the rules of competitions, taking into account the need to enhance the financial allocations in order to ensure the implementation of all health requirements stipulated by the legislation governing the sports sector.
The council reviewed the response submitted by the Council of Ministers regarding the expressed desire to determine a percentage of the annual government withdrawal from the net profits of the Oman Investment Authority (OIA). The Council of Ministers said in its response that the issue of withdrawals from investment returns is among the most important objectives of OIA which targets to augment the public revenues.
The council reviewed the draft amendment of some provisions of the Notary Public Law.