Hashtag launched to support medical residency doctors

AMMAN — A group of Jordanian doctors has created the hashtag ‘’Doctors not slaves’’ in solidarity with medical residency doctors who do not get paid throughout the entire programme, which lasts for four to six years.

A source at the Jordanian Medical Association who preferred to remain anonymous said: ‘’The exploitation that has been happening with the residency doctors for years is not acceptable and it’s against the Labour Law that guarantees employees a minimum wage. Hospitals are taking advantage of general practitioners’ need to complete the residency programme in order for them to be specialised doctors. Jordan is the only country that allows unpaid residency programmes.’’

Residency students have to sign a contract with the hospital they want to work at and they cannot break the contract during the programme. In some cases students have to pay up to JD5,000 penalty for early withdrawal, the source said.

The Jordanian Medical Association has reached out to the Ministry of Heath urging immediate and fair action in favour of residency doctors, the source said.

Qutaiba Radawna, a urology resident at a private hospital in Jordan, said that residents work more than 100 hours a week in addition to weekly night shifts. Many resident doctors finish the programme in debt. 

‘’Residents work for free at hospitals where they are in high risk of contagious disease and do not even have insurance,” he added.