Changing times require leadership, governance

Muscat, April 30 - Leadership governance and talent management was in focus on the second day of the Arab Healthcare Development Annual Forum (AHDAF), which is the 19th annual forum of the Arab Hospitals Federation (AHF), being held at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre. Leadership is important for any aspiration, said Dr Darwish bin Saif al Muharbi (pictured), Under-Secretary for Administrative and Financial Affairs at the Ministry of Health.

Leadership is important for any mission and it begins with many layers of foundation that has to be established, stated the under-secretary. “To start with, if leadership takes the impetus and then builds on, then the organisations would be more equipped because of the skills acquired to move from one level to another,” said Dr Darwish. The concentration was also on the utilisation of human resources within an organisation. “The focus should be on striking the formula of putting the right people at the right places at the right time. Then, the focus would be on how do you nurture them and help them grow within the organisation so they can do the task with the organisation,” he explained.

To a question on what challenge the health sector in Oman is facing currently, the under-secretary said that just as in all the other services life is changing because the resources and technology are just and so are human beings. “We are changing because of the abundance of knowledge and information as well as skills that are available nowadays. I think the challenge is how do we match those and how do we guarantee that we are taking on board the aspects in science and technology and other areas that develop skills and mental capacity to superimpose on how we conduct business at the end of the day. I think that is the jest of the challenge that awaits us and is lurking around. But lots of people in the ministry are fully equipped for the challenge and we will come up with the right formula,” answered Dr Darwish.

Lakshmi Kothaneth