The Department was founded by Dr. Nils Evjen of Norway in 1989 when the college of Medicine was established. Two years later, Professor W. Arnold Tweed of Toronto, Canada became the head of department as the first Professor and Chairman of Anesthesia. He established the anesthesia teaching rotations for medical students.

Prof. Tweed resigned in 1995 and Dr. Andre Loune became the head of the department till 2002. He was an active physician. His commitment to develop the Intensive Care Unit was noteworthy. He was the one who introduced Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS) courses into the university.

Dr. Ali Said Ali Abady

Head of Department

In the year 2000, Dr. Mohamed Ismaili joined the department as the first Omani resident. Dr. Nasser Kemyani and Dr. Intisar Mackie also joined as residents in 2001 and 2003 respectively. After completing two years of training in the department, they all left to Canada for Post graduate study.

Dr. Ali Al-Abadi moved from Royal Oman Police Hospital to SQUH in 2003. He was sent to Irland to do a fellowship in Pain Medicine for a year and a half and rejoined in 2007

Dr. Nasser Al-Kemyani completed a fellowship in Cardiac Anesthesia in Toronto and rejoined July 2008. Dr. Mohamed Ismaili re-joined the department in July 2009 after completing his residency and fellowship in Vascular Anesthesia. In October 2012, Dr. Intisar Al-Mackie completed her fellowship in Pediatric Anesthesia and rejoined the department as a consultant.

Dr. Mohamed Al-Ismaili was appointed deputy Head of Department in March 2010. Later on, he was appointed Head of the Department in August 2014.

Over the past two years, department has added expanded its clinical Care services to include

·       Formation of a separate team to run the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) during daytime and after working hours

·       Independent Obstetric Anesthesia coverage from 1500Hrs to 2200Hrs

·       Extension of the Orthopedic Trauma operation room time 0800Hrs to 2000Hrs

·       Extension to the  ENT operating time to be from 0800Hrs to 2000Hrs

·       Establishment of Interventional Pain Procedures once a week

·       Establishment of Pre-Anesthesia Clinic for children coming for Magnetic Resonance Imaging so that they can be done as day-care procedures

Over the years, more staff joined our department. Today, there are 53 members of staff working under the umbrella of our department. Amongst our staff are 37 anesthetists/intensivists, 2 residents on scholarship, 2 anesthesia technicians, 9 respiratory therapists and 3 coordinators.

Approximately 7105 anesthetics are delivered primarily by subspecialty teams, much of it for complicated tertiary surgical care. The department prides itself on an unparalleled esprit de corps. Many new and exciting projects are underway, e.g. seven new operating rooms including hybrid theatre.

The department strives to ensure that quality clinical services are provided for our patients. Good atmosphere for learning is provided for undergraduate and postgraduate education for students and residents respectively. Medical students do a one week rotation in Anesthesia during their junior clerkship and another one week during their senior clerkship.

Doctors from the department are also involved in teaching Oman Medical Specialty (OMSB) Anesthesia residents who are posted at SQU Hospital.