Virtual panel discussion calls for reorganising health sector

AMMAN — Experts participating in a discussion panel have called for reorganising the health sector in Jordan to guarantee better health services for citizens in the public and private sectors.

The session, organised by the Phenix Centre for Economic and Informatics Studies on Monday, urged improving the efficiency of expenditure on competencies in the Health Ministry and halting early retirement of experienced doctors, according to a statement from the centre.

The session also witnessed the launch of a project titled “The impact of community participation in healthcare in Jordan” in partnership with internationals NGOs CARE International and the Ford Foundation.

During the panel, titled “Challenges and priorities for reforming the health sector in Jordan”, Senator Yassin Husban, head of the Health and Environment Committee at the Senate, said that the health system in Jordan faced hardships, obstacles and failures along with achievements.

Husban noted that recent years witnessed a decline in the level of health services, where the Health Ministry suffered from several administrative problems and lacked efficiency.

Assistant Secretary General for Preliminary Health at the Health Ministry Ghazi Sharkas said that the ministry was already suffering from challenges and shortcomings before the COVID-19 pandemic, attributing the decline in the level of services to the increased population density and refugee waves the Kingdom has received over the past decade.

Manal Tahtamouni, an expert in health policies, said that health policymakers did not consider the increase of population and urban growth, noting that some 60 per cent of the members of society are under the age of 30 who are in need of a “different” type of healthcare.