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Oman Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2012
Business Monitor International, Dec 2011, Pages: 83
Oman Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, pharmaceutical associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Oman's pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry.
While Oman is viewed favourably in terms of operating risks, constraints on medicine pricing and the small population will continue to drag down its rewards score. Nevertheless, oil revenues should continue to underpin government’s efforts to provide modern healthcare, while the demand for latest treatments will continue to strengthen on the back of the populations’ preference for branded drugs.
Headline Expenditure Projections
Pharmaceuticals: OMR117mn (US$303mn) in 2010 to OMR125mn (US$326mn) in 2011; +7.7% in both local currency and US dollar terms. Forecast slightly down from Q411, with 2010 values revised downwards due to new trade data.
Healthcare: OMR605mn (US$1.57bn) in 2010 to OMR663mn (US$1.72bn) in 2011; +9.6% in both local currency and US dollar terms. Forecast unchanged from Q411, although 2010 value revised upwards due to new macroeconomic data.
Medical devices: OMR33mn (US$86mn) in 2010 to OMR38mn (US$98mn) in 2011; +13.1% in both local currency and US dollar terms. Forecast revised upwards significantly from Q411 due to macroeconomic factors, although 2010 values revised downwards due to new trade data.
Business Environment Rating: Oman’s composite score improved by 4.1% quarter-to-quarter (q-oq) and now stands at 50.2 out of the maximum 100 points. This has resulted in the country rising by one place to ninth in the Q112 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Business Environment Ratings (BERs) for Middle East and Africa (MEA). Oman is one of the smallest regional markets, which drags down its rewards score, but has relatively low operating risks in regional terms.
Key Trends & Developments
As part of their commitment to tackling cancer, and coinciding with the World’s Breast Cancer awareness month, the Ministry of Justice inaugurated a walkathon in Oman. The October 2011 event was themed ‘Say You Care, Be Aware’, in order to promote self-examination and early breast cancer diagnosis. Around the same time, the National Association for Cancer Awareness (NACA) installed Mobile Mammography Units (MMUs) at various locations in the interior regions of Oman, reported Oman Daily Observer, citing the association. The moves are also expected to increase awareness about breast cancer as well as other forms of the disease.
In October 2011, the authorities were reported to be in the process of implementing several government-funded projects in the country, as add-ons to the Five-Year Development Plan 2011- 2015. The projects, which include the construction of a referral hospital, will specifically target less developed areas of the sultanate.
Oman's Ministry of Health (MoH) aims to promote e-health services by linking identity cards (IDs) with hospital registration and treatment, reported Muscat Daily in September 2011. According to the country manager of Muscat Private Hospital, Michael Sheldon, e-health services enable doctors to identify the main cause of a disease by referring to the medical history of individual patients.
India is shortly expected to conclude free trade agreement (FTA) talks with all the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). These talks began officially in 2006, following the 2004 signing of the Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation, which paved the way for the current negotiations. The FTA should help Indian drugmakers to take a greater market share of the regional generic drug segment, primarily at the expense of Middle Eastern drugmakers.
Economic View: As a result of increased income from oil exports, we expect Oman's finances to remain in good shape this year. Heightened revenues have been offset to some extent by a concurrent rise in public spending, but we nevertheless expect the budget to register a surplus of 4.7% of GDP in 2011, up from a deficit of 0.3% in 2010. Looking forward, we expect moderating energy prices and further spending increases to restrict the budget surplus to 1.0% of GDP in 2012, which may also constrain the government’s healthcare spending.
Political View: Public protests in Oman have continued despite a series of government reforms aimed at creating more employment opportunities and ceding powers to the parliament. While we believe tensions may persist, we expect the current government to survive the unrest without having to make significant political concessions. The government has been extremely proactive in addressing one of the main demands of protestors – increased employment opportunities, which will also improve the prospects for non-prescription drug spending as well as for the wider healthcare services use.
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