Health Ministry plans to create 3,500 jobs — minister

AMMAN — The Health Ministry is cooperating with the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) to implement a succession plan, under which 3,500 people would be appointed to fill shortages in medical, nursing and other health-related fields, Health Minister Saad Jaber said on Tuesday. 

During a tour of a number of Irbid hospitals, the minister said that the plan includes new contracts with nursing and technical personnel, in addition to new contracts for specialists at the ministry’s hospitals and centres, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The plan aligns with the Health Ministry’s restructuring strategy, which aims to improve the quality of services provided and the efficiency of the ministry’s administrative departments to cut red tape. 

As part of the aforementioned strategy, the ministry will review the performance and necessity of health centres to determine whether or not they can be merged with other nearby facilities. 

This way, the ministry will be able to focus the abilities of personnel and equipment so they can better serve the over 80 per cent of patients who would normally forgo a visit hospitals.

Expanding the role of comprehensive health centres to offer around-the-clock services will be done gradually, first in the governorates and then on the provincial level.

“At its core, the restructuring [strategy] will merge departments and administrations, create the position of secretary general of administrative affairs, in addition to structuring the financial department in a way that aligns with the ministry’s upcoming projects,” Jaber said. 

He added that it will also rectify areas of error within financial by-laws including those pertaining to incentives and transport, among others. 

The minister noted that the UK, France and Italy have granted the ministry scholarships to send doctors to learn specialties in fields where shortages exist, adding that other countries have been contacted for the same purpose.