‘Child abuse not linked to particular region in Oman’

Muscat: Child abuse cases are not related to any geographical location in Oman, a top official from the Child Health Department at the Ministry of Health (MoH) said.
“You can’t say that the number of cases (of child abuse) are higher in Muscat than in other places; it’s not related to geography, but depends on the environment of children,” said Dr. Moza Nasser al Hatmi, head of the Child Health Department at MoH.
“All forms of abuse exist, and they are reported in different proportions,” she added.
Oman’s MoH, represented by the Child and Women Health Department, is conducting a three-day training session for medical professionals on dealing with violence against children.
The objective of the three-day workshop is to train and prepare representatives from the Child Health Committee and 33 doctors from different governorates, on ways in which they can deal with cases of violence, particularly against children.
“The workshop aims to give healthcare providers the adequate knowledge on how to deal with cases of child abuse, how to detect and report such cases, and how to report them to the concerned authorities,” Al Hatmi added.
The last day of the workshop will see talks delivered by speakers from the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) and the Ministry of Education (MoE).
“We involve other sectors because they play major roles in this matter, the ministries can clarify and explain what services they are providing.”
In order to further train healthcare professionals, trained doctors from the Royal Hospital, the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, and several representatives from MoSD and MoE also took part in conducting the workshop.
Several topics
More than 60 attendees are being mentored on several topics related to child abuse—ways in which to identify the abuse cases, co-factors of abuse in different age groups, types and diagnosis for abuse, dealing with special needs children, reporting abuse cases and providing therapy services.
An important point of discussion is also primary and secondary abuse prevention, as well as rehabilitation services for victims.
The workshop is being jointly conducted by MoH and UNICEF (United Nations’ Children’s Fund).
“It is a continuous training; it started last year with a national workshop, and now we have brought them (healthcare professionals) together again to strengthen their abilities and this time they are the ones conducting the workshops, so that they can later go to their respective governorates and impart this knowledge,” Al Hatmi explained.