The Sultan Qaboos Comprehensive Cancer Care and Research Centre will start receiving patients starting mid-July. The centre is expected to receive 80 per cent of the cancer patients in the sultanate within the next three years.

The centre has been set up on the Royal Orders of the late Sultan Qaboos. 

Built on an area of 54,000sqm in Al Khoudh, the centre will have capacity of 300 beds. The centre will include diagnostic, therapeutic and academic departments.

According to Dr Mansour bin Saif al Mandhari, chairman of the Operational Committee of the centre, it is billed to be a leading medical facility for academic and research purposes, besides providing integrated healthcare.

Dr Mandhari informed that work is almost 95 per cent complete. 

“It has a modern design to provide patients comfort, including wide corridors and natural lighting. The centre will have a care unit consisting of 40 treatment chairs for chemotherapy, four chairs for dialysis, and eight treatment rooms.”

The first phase of operations will include outpatient clinics, day care unit, radiology and nuclear medicine unit, internal and external pharmacy, medical and research laboratories, operation theatres and an endoscopy unit. 

The second phase will include opening inpatient departments.

Dr Mandhari added that the centre will support medical education in the sultanate for students in Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, colleges under the Ministry of Health, and the Omani Council for Medical Specialties. 

“It will also provide consulting services to government and private hospitals for treatment and research related to cancer,” Dr Mandhari said.