SQU Med J, May 2011, Vol. 11, Iss. 2, pp. 187-195, Epub. 15th May 11
Submitted 23rd Oct 10
Revision ReQ. 12th Jan 11, Revision recd. 13th Feb 11
Accepted 15th Feb 11

The Sultanate of Oman is a Muslim Arab country located in the southeastern Arabian Peninsula. The strategic position 
of Oman, particularly as a marine centre connecting 
the Arabian Peninsula with the Indian Subcontinent 
and East Africa, contributed largely to creating 
the dynamic cultural hub which characterises the 
country. For many people in Oman, the year 1970, 
when the current Sultan took power, marked the leap 
of Oman into a nation state and the move towards 
modernisation. The health care sector has been 
one of the essential priorities in the evolving state.1 
Looking today at the public, state-wide biomedical 

health care system, the presence and evolution of 
biomedicine over the last two centuries could be 
easily overlooked by future generations. As even the 
seemingly minor traces of history do contribute to 
shaping and explaining current health care policies 
in the country,2 and because of significant rising 
challenges to the existing system in Oman,3,4 the 
need to look back at the roots of current practice 
and identify historical learning points seems more 
imperative than ever. 

Few papers have attempted to address, even 
in brief, some of the aspects related to the history 
of medicine in Oman. The College of Medicine 

Medical Department, Petroleum Development Oman, Muscat, Oman.
*Corresponding Author email: dralazri@gmail.com

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 :مفتاح الكلمات

aBstract: During the past four decades, Oman has transformed into a modern state with remarkable changes 
in all fields, including public health and the provision of medical services. Little attention has been paid so far to 
the history of the development of biomedicine in Oman. A history of healing practices, just like clinical patient 
histories, helps to diagnose problems, plan interventions and predict their future within a dynamic context. 
This study is the first to explore the beginnings and evolution of biomedicine in Oman during the 19th century, 
categorising it into three eras: from the casual system offered by occasional visiting biomedical practitioners to 
the more organised, but limited, British military hospital and, finally, to public missionary medical care toward the 
end of the 19th century. The study concludes by recommending further focus on medical humanities, including the 
history of medicine, as a contributing factor to improve and sustain the art and practice of medicine within the 
existing Omani health care system. 

Keywords: Oman; History of medicine; Mission and Missionaries; Colonialism

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION

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Sent to Explore, Conquer and Heal
History of the evolution of biomedicine in Oman during the 19th century

Nasser Hammad Al-Azri



Sent to Explore, Conquer and Heal 
History of the evolution of biomedicine in Oman during the 19th century

188 | SQU Medical Journal, May 2011, Volume 11, Issue 2

at Sultan Qaboos University took an interesting 
initiative in The Dean's Prize Essay in the History 
of Medicine for medical students which existed for 
several years during the 1990s. The award-winning 
essays touched on various aspects related to the 
history of medicine in general although often with 
a focus on Oman. Essays such as Folk Medicine in 
Oman through the Eyes of Traditional Healers, The 
Early History of Modern Medicine in Oman and The 
History of Medicine in Relation to Medical Education 
in Oman could form the seed for a deeper insight 
on the subject.5,6,7 Unfortunately, such initial efforts 
have neither been nurtured further nor sustained. 
Alas, there are at present no organised or sustainable 
efforts to study the historical development of the 
system of medical practice in relation to health and 
health care in the country.  

The aim of this paper, therefore, is to trace the 
introduction and evolution of biomedicine in Oman 
during the 19th century in relation to internal and 
external factors. It is an attempt to ignite interest 
in the medical humanities in general, and to break 
new grounds for investigation and research on the 
history of medicine by relating it further to health 
and health care in the country. As such, the article 
is expected to generate more questions and open 
more new doors for enquiry than it may present 
ready-made answers on the subject.     

Methods
This study, to the best of the author’s knowledge, is 
the first to investigate and document in detail the 
very beginning and development of biomedicine 
in Oman in the 19th century. Labelling medical 
and healing practices poses always a dilemma of 
terminology and definitions, particularly when it 
comes to Western medicine and its counterparts in 
other cultures.8,9 The term “biomedicine” is used in 
this paper specifically to connote biological medicine 
which is based on a positivist approach,10,11,12 so as 
to differentiate it from other forms of local medical 
practices that were present in the community. 

Since writing a global history of biomedicine in 
Oman is virtually impossible, this study has to be 
limited in time to the 19th century and in content 
to the evolution of biomedicine. The introduction 
of biomedicine in Oman corresponded largely 
with the increased Western involvement and 
intrusion into the region during late 18th and the 

19th centuries. The pattern almost parallels the 
development of Western imperialism through 
the stages of exploration and discoveries, military 
and economic interests and religious imperialism. 
Investigating such a historical issue is hindered by 
the lack of documentation for this period. Moreover, 
socio-political events and internal conflicts were 
the topics of interest for local historians, but they 
rarely documented the health status of the general 
population, or healing practices in the community.

In studying history, there are usually three types 
of source materials.13 Primary sources include all 
materials produced at the time of an event by people 
with direct knowledge of it. Secondary sources 
are those that discuss, analyse or review primary 
sources. Tertiary sources are usually collections that 
organise data from secondary sources. This study 
utilised primary sources from travelogues written 
by visitors to Oman during the period under study. 
It also utilised the information contained in the 
administration reports sent by the British Naval 
Resident Surgeon in Muscat to headquarters. 
American Mission reports contributed as well to the 
documentation of medical practice in the country 
starting from the 1890s onwards. The study would 
have not been complete without referring to the 
few local resources that addressed health-related 
aspects of Omanis. In addition, secondary sources 
were also consulted and used to augment this study. 

Why Study the History of 
Medicine?
Medical humanities, including the history of 
medicine, are as essential to medicine as basic 
sciences are. Medicine is an art and a science,14,15 

and both aspects therefore should be considered 
whether one is dealing with an individual patient or 
with a medical system. Just like the vital importance 
of patient history in the clinical context, the history 
of medicine attempts to place people, institutions 
and events in the broader context in which they 
happened, lived or interacted.16 Among other 
functions, it questions the past in order to provide 
answers to current or expected problems of health 
and health care. 

Being rather a dynamic social organism and 
not simply a mechanical structure, a health care 
system should be understood, evaluated and 
enhanced within its context and locale. Medical 



Nasser Hammad Al-Azri

Special Contribution | 189

humanities are essential for a practice that is 
suffering proliferating ethical dilemmas, frequent 
patient-carer miscommunication and increasing 
customer dissatisfaction despite skyrocketing costs. 
It can operate, as well, as a countermeasure against 
the “dehumanizing atmosphere that technology 
brings to medicine”.17 In addition, humanities may 
also contribute positively to medical education and 
practice in an age of crisis.18,19 

Medical humanities could also improve the art of 
medical practice and guide the rethinking of current 
health policies. Although it is thought commonly to 
deal with the past, studying history is about affecting 
the future course of events differently from what 
already happened or is happening.20,21 This makes 
the link between history and policy unambiguous, 
and as Rosenberg stated:22 “Policy is always history”. 
As such, history is indispensable for health systems 
in order to understand current public health 
challenges and affect, directly or indirectly, related 
future policies.23,24 In brief, the history of medicine 
can be a compass showing where health care was, 
where it stands now and in which future direction it 
should be steered. 

Brief History of Oman 
During 19 th Century
Throughout history, Oman has remained an 
independent land, apart from short periods when 
mainly coastal areas were under Persian and, later, 
Portuguese control. Toward the end of the 18th 
century, Omani dominion had expanded beyond 
the south eastern Arabian Peninsula eastwards to 
the coast of Baluchistan in the Indian subcontinent 
and westwards to the shores of Mozambique. By the 
19th century, its influence extended across the Gulf, 
Persia, Asia, and East Africa. This was the epoch of 
the “Omani Empire”.

The 19th century had also witnessed the struggle 
between western powers to gain a foothold in 
the area as part of their imperial expansion. As 
a consequence of rising western interests and 
competition in the region, the East India Company 
established a British Political Agency in Oman. 
This was moved in 1843 to Zanzibar when the 
capital was shifted there earlier under Sultan Said. 
In 1861, the British Residency was re-established 
by re-appointing a European political officer at 
Muscat.25 This was an important landmark for the 

institutionalisation of biomedicine in Oman as the 
nucleus of an organised biomedical practice was 
soon established by the British Army. Although 
the Omani empire had receded since the mid-19th 
century to occupy its original lands in the Arabian 
Peninsula, Oman continued to influence and be 
influenced by the external competing forces in the 
region, especially following the discovery of oil in 
the Gulf. 

Biomedicine in Oman: The 
Early Days
The rise of biomedicine and its first contact with 
people in Arabia coincided with the rising tide of 
Western colonialism and evangelisation in the 
region. Soldiers, missionaries, administrators and 
capitalists became almost simultaneously interested 
in Arabia. These different “invaders” attempted 
to enlighten the people they encountered, albeit 
by different means and for different reasons, but 
commonly toward “civilisation”.26,27,28 Doctors and 
nurses had diverse motivations for working away 
from home including economic, practical, social, 
professional and religious reasons; nevertheless, 
“they were all culturally determined”.29 Wendell 
Phillips portrays this civilising mission as he 
describes the work of Dr. Krause in the desert of 
Oman: “[h]ere is one of the wildest, least known 
areas of the world, a primitive badawi lies in the 
sand extremely ill. Then, without warning, one of 
America’s leading medical specialists drops down 
as from heaven to serve his most grateful patient”.30 
They were simply missionaries of a new culture, a 
new way of life and a new Weltanschauung. 

Moreover, invading forces used medicine as a tool 
for penetration into Arabia, making the connection 
between biomedicine and these forces unavoidable. 
As an instrument used by various groups of 
politicians, armies and missionaries, and practised 
by professionals and non-professionals to gain entry 
into the region including Oman, biomedicine could 
be considered as a Trojan Horse of Arabia. Major 
Ross “believed that in the coming (20th) century the 
success of Imperialism would depend largely upon 
success with the microscope”.31 Members of the 
royal family and rich people who had more contact 
with the Westerners were more ready to welcome 
and adopt the biomedical approach to healing as 
they had access to it.32 Gradually, however, several 



Sent to Explore, Conquer and Heal 
History of the evolution of biomedicine in Oman during the 19th century

190 | SQU Medical Journal, May 2011, Volume 11, Issue 2

pushing and pulling factors contributed to the 
incorporation of biomedicine in the local Omani 
community as a mode of healing practice.  

Pushing Factors 
External pushing factors probably preceded the 
internal pulling ones. Politicians, discoverers, 
investors and missionaries guarded by military 
troops all used, or abused, biomedicine to fulfil their 
agenda in this region as they had in other parts of 
the world such as China, India and Africa. As will be 
noted later in the discussion, physicians were used 
to bargain for political and military advantages. 
They also helped the newcomers to cope with 
the harsh, “unhealthy” environment of their new 
“settlements”. Biomedicine was, initially at least, 
more of a condition for survival of the foreigners in 
the country than a requirement for the locals. 

Toward the end of the 19th century, with 
increasing wealth and urban growth, new social 
hierarchies and influential relationships were 
being shaped by the imperial powers in the region. 
Medicine served a dual role for both the local 
elite and the invaders. It was a means for the elite 
to strengthen their relationships with the military 
powers and to prove their devotion in order to 
protect their interests in the region. As noted by 
Ghubash et al., “pro-British personalities played a 
substantial part in motivating Britain to introduce 
medical services into the region. That was their 
natural role, taking into consideration the status 
they enjoyed at that time”.33 On the other hand, 
medicine was utilised as a tool for those military 
powers to gain the confidence and satisfaction of 
the rulers and local people. 

Pulling Factors
Pushing factors, no matter how forceful they could 
be, would not have exerted the required influence 
without a significant accompanying change in the 
social milieu. Pulling, or internal, factors calling for 
biomedicine to be part of local culture were related 
mostly to the pushing factors. The need was partly 
created by the new epidemics, illnesses and injuries 
shipped in by soldiers, merchants and missionaries. 
Ibn-Ruzaiq, a prominent Omani historian who died 
in 1857, described the cholera epidemic in 1821 
as an ‘unusual plague’,34  leading to an assumption 

that cholera was probably not a known disease in 
this country until that date. This is consistent with 
various historical data that linked the 1821 Omani 
cholera epidemic with British troops sent from 
India to aid the Sultan against a local rebellion.35,36  

The industrial revolution and its surge of 
scientific discoveries had been associated with a 
new set of illnesses and injuries. The introduction 
of guns, for example, led to injuries previously 
unknown to locals. As Peter J. Zwemer noted, a 
man was brought over 600 km from Abu-Thabi 
(Abu-Dhabi, UAE, today) to the British military 
hospital in Muscat because of a gunshot wound, and 
a bullet was extracted successfully by the attending 
surgeon.37 Major surgery, in its modern practice, 
was indeed an incredible treatment modality for 
a population that largely used herbal medicines 
and other simple “surgical” procedures such as 
tajbeer (bone-setting) and wasm (cauterisation or 
branding).

In addition, and as happened in other 
cultures,38 the perceived inability of local healers 
to cope with new epidemics and types of illnesses 
and injuries paved the road for biomedicine to 
claim its effectiveness among the locals. People 
even copied new healing practices from others, 
probably with the hope of combating the ‘new 
plagues’. The Omani princess Sayyida Salma, in her 
memoirs published first in 1886, noted that some 
superstitious practices were unknown to Omanis 
until they mixed with people in the African part of 
their empire.32 Probably she was referring to the zar 
cult which has been used to treat spirit possession 
victims. This is consistent with other sources that 
refer the origin of this practice to Africa,39,40,41 and 
might explain earlier observations that this cult 
flourished in coastal rather than interior areas of 
Oman.42 Biomedicine was being accepted as a mode 
of healing practice to combat the new illnesses, but 
never as the sole one. 

Evolution of Biomedicine 
in Oman
Biomedicine in Oman can be traced back to the late 
18th century. The development can be categorised 
into three eras, distinctive in their characteristics, 
but yet having limited time overlap:

1. First Era (Sent to explore): the era of casual 



Nasser Hammad Al-Azri

Special Contribution | 191

medical practice by physician and non-physician 
explorers extended for the first six decades of 
19th century. 

2. Second Era (Sent to conquer): the era of 
organised military medicine services extended 
from the seventh decade of 19th century and 
beyond. 

3. Third Era (Sent to heal): the era of missionary 
medicine extended from the 1890s onward.

These eras represent more topical than 
chronologic stages of biomedicine in Oman. The 
labelling of the eras reflects the general dominant 
trend of western powers in the region rather 
than individual practitioners’ objectives. The first 
and second eras correspond closely to phase 1 
(exploration phase) and phase 2 (colonial phase) in 
the Basalla model for explanation of the spread of 
Western sciences to non-Western dominions.43 

Sent to Explore
The last decade of 18th century witnessed a peak in 
the strife between the British and the French. Sayyid 
Sultan, the ruler of Muscat, had at that time a French 
military surgeon in his service.44 This prompted 
the British in 1799 to suggest sending Assistant 
Surgeon A. H. Bogle as a personal physician to the 
Sultan if the later agreed to exclude the French, and 
their physician, from Muscat. The Sultan did, and 
Dr. Bogle became the first British Political Agent in 
Muscat.25 Dr. Bogle, who died in less than a year, 
was then succeeded by Captain David Seton of the 
Bombay Army. Biomedicine has entered Oman on 
military ships as a door opener for the colonials and 
the doctor was the bait! 

One of the earliest encounters during the 
early 19th century was with the Italian traveller, 
Vincinzo Maurizi, known to local people in the 
region as Shaik Mansur. He was appointed as the 
Sultan’s physician in 1809, shortly after his arrival in 
Oman.45 In addition to this position, he also had his 
own private medical practice, which he described 
as being ‘very extensive’. Nevertheless, he described 
the suspicions raised by some people regarding his 
claim of being a physician and how luck helped him 
overcome it! Apart from casual stories of patients 
he successfully treated, he did not elaborate much 
on the population health status, common illnesses, 

or medical and healing practices. 
Not surprisingly, this era coincided with Western 

geographical exploration and is the most difficult to 
track as biomedical practice was not yet organised. 
Most of the information is in the writings of 
travellers who visited the country, or in the political 
history records. A few journals also referred to 
some biomedical practitioners in Oman, but mainly 
for their contribution to geographic explorations 
rather than their medical practice. Many military 
surgeons visited and toured the country, such as 
Dr. W. S. W. Ruschenberger of the United States 
Navy,46 Dr. Hulton, and John Henry Carter of the 
British Navy.47,48,49 Their accounts on the culture, 
geology, and topography of Oman reflect the trend 
of Western explorers in Asia and Africa at that time, 
but contain no elaborate medical reports. 

The British Navy in Muscat had medical staff 
to care for its employees and also the royal family. 
Grant is probably referring to this in his statement: 
‘The British Residency started medical work in 
Muscat in 1800, and maintained a medical staff 
throughout the century’.50 Bosch also asserted that 
a medical officer was maintained at that time by 
the British Residency as ‘Port Quarantine Officer’.51 
The proposition that the quarantine officer was 
maintained throughout 19th century cannot be 
substantiated since the regulations were not present 
till 1867. In addition, the British Political Agency 
had been shifted to Zanzibar from 1843 until 1861, 
and it was represented in Muscat by an illiterate Jew 
during that period.25 Thus, it is hard to assume that 
any organised biomedical practice was undertaken 
by British Residency medical staff during the first 
half of the century. Nevertheless, this was the 
exploratory era when such visits probably had 
an impact on the elite society, in particular, and 
prepared it for the “new medicine” to come.

Sent to Conquer 
During the 19th century, Western commercial 
interests in Oman developed into political as well 
as military affairs. Although the Arabian Gulf was 
never formally a part of the British Empire, it is 
acknowledged that the Gulf was indeed British.52 

The British government of India was the only foreign 
government that could maintain a permanent 
mission in Muscat throughout the second half 
of the 19th century.53 The re-establishment of the 



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History of the evolution of biomedicine in Oman during the 19th century

192 | SQU Medical Journal, May 2011, Volume 11, Issue 2

British Residency in Muscat in 1861 was a driving 
force to provide other supporting services for the 
permanent troops, including medical facilities. 

In fact, this was the first time biomedical services 
were institutionalised in Oman, and probably in 
the Arabian Peninsula. A hospital was maintained 
within the Agency compound and was run by a 
surgeon major from the Indian Medical Services. 
The Sultan had donated a building that was suitable 
for the hospital and its dispensary.37 

The doctor during this period assumed multiple 
roles. Doctors not only treated their fellow soldiers, 
but they were also pioneers in reporting on local 
flowers and species, documenting socio-cultural 
practices and informing headquarters about political 
and military issues.  The regular administration 
reports that were sent by the resident surgeon to the 
headquarters in India documented, among other 
things, the health of the population at that time. 

Surgeon Major Mr. Apothecary Gaspar de 
Rozario was appointed as the British Political Agent 
in 1866. Rozario wrote an account of Muscat, which 
included a two-page briefing on the prevailing 
diseases, mainly small pox, measles and whooping 
cough.54 He had also documented the malaria and 
cholera epidemics in the summer of 1865. Rozario 
asserted that vaccination was started for the people 
of Muscat after nine years of "haranguing and 
illustration". Although this report was not dated, it 
could be assumed that it was written around 1875, 
i.e. 9 years after appointment of Rozario in Oman.  

Surgeon Major A. S. G. Jayakar succeeded 
Rozario in Muscat and is probably better known to 
zoologists than to physicians as he identified three 
important Omani species that now carry his name: 
Tahr (hermitragus Jayakari), Fakhakh (agama 
Jayakari), and the small boa (eryx Jayakari).53 He 
seemed to have travelled extensively throughout 
Oman during the 21 years that he spent in the 
country before his retirement in 1900. 

Jayakar deserves the credit for the first 
comprehensive biomedical report on Oman, 
entitled, Medical Topography of Muscat.55 This 
14-page account offered valuable information on 
the geology, climate, water supply, food, sanitation, 
streets and population of Muscat. It also included a 
detailed description of the prevailing diseases and 
related health issues in the country. Interestingly, 
Jayakar noted the very uncommon prevalence of 
organic diseases of the heart and large blood vessels 

and the rare occurrence of kidney and bladder 
diseases, dysentery, rheumatism and brain diseases. 
On the other hand, malaria was the prevailing 
disease in the region, and cases of consumption 
(tuberculosis) were common. According to him, 
bronchitis, dyspepsia, haemorrhoids, ulcers, and 
eye and skin diseases were also common in the 
region.

The 19th century witnessed a remarkable  
increase in the frequency of epidemics in the 
country. Much of the burden of these epidemics 
could be attributed to poor sanitation, unavailability 
of clean water, and the ‘harsh’ climate of the 
country as described by many Western travellers. 
Nevertheless, the contribution of population 
movement to and from their new dominions in 
Asia and Africa, combined with increased use of the 
Muscat port by military and trading ships, cannot 
be overlooked. Following the first cholera epidemic 
in Oman in 1821, a second outbreak took place in 
1864, and a third in 1899. Although Jayakar reported 
that that “plague” had never been known to prevail 
in Oman, a breakout of plague was indeed reported 
in Mutrah, the twin city of Muscat, in 1899–1900.56 
Marching troops, cruising steamers, ambitious 
explorers and locals moving to and from their new 
dominions in Africa were advancing faster than 
controlling health measures in the country. 

As noticed above, despite the fact that many 
epidemics were related directly or indirectly to 
imperial activities in the region, there was neglect 
of the health of the general population in favour of 
a focus on health of the troops, western travellers 
and the elite. For example, 'Maskat Quarantine 
Regulations' were issued in 1867 for British subjects 
and British-protected subjects who entered Oman.56 
This may not be surprising since “[t]he first priority 
of imperial medicine prior to the First World War 
was to keep soldiers and officials functioning in 
unhealthy environments”.57 However, this era paved 
the road for the next when missionaries came to 
a country which was suffering from diseases and 
epidemics both contributed to and neglected by 
their fellow countrymen. 

Sent to Heal
Toward the end of the 19th century, evangelical 
missionary activities were flourishing in Arabia. 
Oman was a strategic area to the missionary 



Nasser Hammad Al-Azri

Special Contribution | 193

enterprise, just as it was for the foreign political 
and military powers. General F. T. Haig of the 
British Army suggested Oman, Bahrain, and the 
Najd region in Saudi Arabia as profitable places 
for establishing permanent missionary stations.58 

Missionaries realised early on that it would be futile 
to start out with empty hands on the adventure of 
“healing souls”. Healing bodies with biomedicine, 
tried already in some other areas such as China 
and Africa with success, could pave the way toward 
“God” in Arabia as well, or so it was thought. Despite 
the fact that the Muslim people of the region did not 
consent to any evangelisation, medical missionaries 
were still of particular importance as they were the 
key to the people and area. 

The Arabian (American) Mission started its 
work in Oman in 1893. It was customary for non-
medical missionaries to practice medicine and 
dispense drugs to people in the region during their 
tours, just as earlier explorers did. Samuel Zwemer, 
for example, was known to do this, and he used it as 
a door-opener during his tours in Arabia, including 
Oman.59,60 In 1896, the first recorded exploratory 
visit by a medical missionary to Oman was made 
by Dr. Worrall.61 Although missionaries frequented 
the country with their ‘medicine chests’ during the 
1890s, it was not until 1904 that a medical clinic was 
started in Mutrah, the port area of Muscat, and run 
by Mrs. James Cantine. 

Female medical practitioners were of particular 
importance to the missionary enterprise in the region 
and they were awarded a central role in Arabia. In 
fact, women’s medical services were among the most 
effective agents of cultural change in the region.62 
Sayyida Salma, who converted to Christianity, called 
particularly for female physicians, as ‘there is a great 
opening here for Christian charity, that would bear 
fruit a hundredfold, without any great obstacles in 
the way’.33 It seemed that "Oman and all Arabia offer 
untold opportunities for the [missionary] medical 
profession".63 

At the turn of the 19th century, the Arab 
Gulf region was sandwiched between the tight 
military grip of the British Army on one side 
and the soft, “humanitarian” services of the 
American missionaries on the other. In contrast 
with the already existing British military hospital, 
missionary medical services were primarily public 
and sought to serve otherwise impenetrable parts of 
the country. Medical missionaries, just as in other 

parts of the world, blended in with the people as 
no other “foreigners” did. They lived their life, ate 
their food and shared their joys and sorrows. Their 
work included not only conquering the diseases 
of the poor, but also civilising the “heathen” with 
their Western cultural values.64,65,66 As Etherington 
has noted: “although missions and the official 
empire were quite different operations, they play 
related parts in a larger drama—the spread of 
modernisation, globalisation, and Western cultural 
hegemony”.57  

Until the end of the 19th century, biomedical 
work was restricted mostly to the Muscat area 
although missionaries also started exploratory 
visits to the Batinah.67 Their activities expanded in 
the 20th century to include the interior of Oman, an 
area that had remained largely unreached by other 
foreigners. Medical missions with two operating 
hospitals were the active force in Omani biomedical 
practice until a national health care system was 
established in the 1970s. 

Agenda for Future 
Research
The history of the evolution of biomedicine in 
Oman is intriguing and raises many questions that 
could form an agenda for future research on the 
topic. The nature of the interaction between state 
power, Western powers in the region, biomedicine, 
culture and traditional healing practices in Oman, 
and factors that affected such interactions, is a 
virgin area for investigation. Missionary medicine 
and missionaries in Oman and Arab Gulf is 
another almost untouched topic despite a wealth of 
primary sources. In addition, it would also be worth 
investigating social milieu changes in relation to 
health and healing practices, particularly following 
the establishment of missionary medical centres. 
Such studies should address these issues and relate 
them to the then health and healing practices, 
as well as probing possible implications for the 
currrent health system. 

Conclusion
The introduction and evolution of biomedicine 
in Oman, which began in the 19th century, is a 
fascinating topic. What started out as casual 
exploratory visits further crystallised into a 



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History of the evolution of biomedicine in Oman during the 19th century

194 | SQU Medical Journal, May 2011, Volume 11, Issue 2

permanent British military hospital that served 
mainly military staff and the elite, but occasionally 
the poor as well. The last decade of the 19th century 
witnessed the growing interest of American 
missionaries in the country, who were particularly 
influential in opening doors for not only the 
evangelising enterprise in the community, but for 
foreign intrusion in general. The history of changes 
in biomedicine and health in Oman is an interesting 
subject that needs more attention from local scholars 
and researchers. Humanities, in general, are still a 
subject which is lacking, or thought to be auxiliary, 
in the medical scene of most developing countries. 
Literature, history, philosophy, ethics and religion 
should be addressed in medical education not as a 
supplementary, but as a core subject. In addition, 
focused research and practice in these disciplines 
should be encouraged in order to explore and assess 
their contribution to current and future health and 
health care in Oman.   

a c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s 
The author is grateful to Prof. Musbah Tanira, 
Department of Pharmacology & Clinical Pharmacy, 
and Dr. Abdullah Al-Muniri, Department of 
Family Medicine & Public Health of the College 
of Medicine & Health Sciences at Sultan Qaboos 
University for their invaluable comments on earlier 
versions of this manuscript.  

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