THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR IN THE SULTANATE OF OMAN AND THE LEGAL CONTROL OF THE UTILIZATION OF AI SYSTEMS

Integrating artificial intelligence with medicine is quickly becoming an international trend. It is understandable that medical professionals appreciate this emerging technology's potential in improving diagnosis, automating tasks, monitoring and managing medical conditions, and performing functions that were traditionally carried out by humans. The Oman Vision 2040 and The National Digital Health Strategy both consider the Digital Shift in Health Systems a main pillar of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In the context of AI and analytics in virtual medicine, it aims to improve the provision of healthcare services. This also aligns with the Omani Health Ministry’s Health 2050 document. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence technology present a host of ethical and legal challenges, including algorithmic bias, opacity, privacy violations, diminished patient self-determination, and legal accountability gaps surrounding malpractice. This study seeks to examine the primary legislative initiatives concerning the Omani legislative response to artificial intelligence in the healthcare system and to consider the scope of artificial intelligence and its systems and entities, as well as the civil liability it may entail. This research examines these challenges and the processes of case documenting the attempts to control the use of artificial intelligence technology through a descriptive-analytical method. The study, to the extent available legal structures reach, examines the legal challenges for which, in the absence of consideration, far more robust legal structures need to be developed. Such structures need to be ethically designed centered on the principles of autonomy, justice, transparency, and accountability to safeguard the rights and safety of the patients within the frameworks of equity and social justice.