The Oman Heart Association (OHA) emerged when the Cardiology Department at the Royal Hospital decided to conduct regular scientific meetings under the name of Royal Hospital Cardiology Club. The first event was successfully held in December 2002 at the Royal Hospital Auditorium.
However, it was felt that to achieve the ultimate goal of representing cardiology in Oman this meeting should be moved from the Royal Hospital and the name accordingly changed to Muscat Cardiology Club (MCC).
Muscat Cardiology Club was officially inaugurated as the first MCC Scientific Session on the 3rd of April, 2003. The speakers included representatives from Royal, Sultan Qaboos University, Sohar and Sur Hospitals. The second MCC was held on the 1st of May, 2003.
The MCC then went on to organize the second Gulf Heart Association Conference. This event took place in Muscat in January 2004 and really demonstrated that MCC is the unofficial Cardiology Organization in Oman.
In December 2004, a General Assembly was held in the presence of 20 clinicians to discuss the idea of creating the OHA. The first Board of OHA was then selected from the attending clinicians and comprised of the following:
• Dr. Abdullah Mohammed Al Riyami President
• Dr. Kadhim Jaffer Suliman Vice President
• Dr. Maher Jaffer Al Bahrani Secretary
• Dr. Abdullah Amour Al Riyami Treasurer
• Dr. Mohammed Khamis Al Mukhaini Member
• Dr. Ahmed Abdullah Al Bulushi Member
Twenty two scientific sessions were organized under the title of MCC. They included joint meetings between MCC and recognized international institutions like the Ottawa Heart Institute, University of Vienna and Asian Heart Institute. More joint sessions were also conducted with different sub-specialties (Obstetrics and Gynecology, Endocrinology, Anesthesia, Neurology and Emergency Medicine).
The OHA was then officially recognized on the 17th of March 2007 (Ministry of Social Development No. 37/2007).
The first scientific session organized under the official name OHA was conducted in November 2007. The outreach program was introduced in 2008. This was a major step in promoting the mission of OHA in the different regions of the Sultanate. The first outreach program was in Sohar (25th of December 2008).
OHA has supported professional development by conducting state of the art courses on ECG (7 courses), cardiac CT and transesophageal echocardiography.
One of the main targets of OHA is to increase the skills of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) among the Health Care Providers and accordingly an active CPR program is being now running, the first Basic Life Support Course was held in November 12, 2009.
However, the association is aware that cardiac caregivers need more scientific support and that more needs to be done in promoting health education across the country.
On the 19th March 2009, the first General Assembly was held and the following clinicians were elected as the board of Directors.
