Cancer is the third leading cause of death in hospitals in Oman, while breast cancer is the most common kind of cancer and thyroid cancer ranked second among all cancers.

The Ministry of Health, represented by the National Cancer Registry at the Department of Non-Communicable Diseases in the Directorate General of Primary Health Care, released the latest cancer statistics of the sultanate (2019) on Sunday. The total number of diagnosed cases was 2,307 (nationals and residents).

The number of Omani patients diagnosed with cancer in 2019 was 2,089; 218 residents were also diagnosed with cancer in this period.

‘Cancer was the third leading cause of death in hospitals, after respiratory diseases and cardiovascular diseases being the first,’ MoH report said. Cancer incidence rate among Omani women – 1,158 or 55.43 per cent – was higher than men – 931. Cancer was also reported in 124 children under 14 years of age.