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AMMAN — Minister of ICT and Public Sector Development Majd Shweikeh on Wednesday announced the launch of ten e-services in the ministries of tourism and labour and the departments of lands and survey and general intelligence, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Shweikeh said that these e-services are part of the plan to move towards an e-government, noting that these new services include five in the Tourism Ministry, three in the Department of Lands and Survey, issuing work permits at the Labour Ministry and issuing the certificate of good conduct from the General Intelligence Department.

The total number of operating e-services stands at 20 following another launch earlier this year, Shweikeh pointed out.

AMMAN — Interior Minister Samir Mubaidin on Wednesday headed a meeting to discuss traffic congestion in Amman, with the aim of developing solutions to the traffic in the capital and mitigate its effects, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The participants discussed the stages reached by the medium- and long-term strategic plans developed by parties concerned with traffic, and reviewed projects currently being implemented in this regard.

Also on Wednesday, Mubaidin headed a meeting to discuss the reconstruction project of the desert highway, where he stressed the importance of the project for its positive effects on the economic development process. The minister emphasised that “it is unacceptable to have any obstructions on the project’s work”.

AMMAN — Civil Defence Department (CDD) Director Maj. Gen. Mustafa Bazaiah on Wednesday met with German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas and his accompanying delegation, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the meeting, Bazaiah stressed the importance of the cooperation project with the German Technical Cooperation Agency, which aims to train volunteers on civil defence activities and provide them with the needed equipment.

He commended the project as it contributes to improving civil defence services by training “volunteer reserves”, especially in emergencies. For his part, Maas praised the CDD’s role in training the volunteers, underscoring the Germany’s keenness on providing more support for the project and the CDD.

AMMAN — The World Bank-funded project on municipal services for social adaptation on Wednesday organised two separate meetings with local women and youth in Madaba to listen to the local community’s needs and priorities.

Under the second phase of the project, the World Bank allocated JD327,000 to the Greater Madaba Municipality to implement projects serving the local community and Syrian refugees, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The project aims to help municipalities of host communities in providing required services and reduce the burdens imposed by the growing demand on these services.

The first phase of the project included a grant of JD800,000 mostly spent on streets’ reconstruction.  

AMMAN — The Public Security Department (PSD) on Wednesday announced that the King Hussein Bridge will be open for passengers for 24 hours from 8am Sunday until 8 am Monday, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The PSD said the last bus for tourists, VIPs, UN employees, private cars and diplomats will be at 9pm on Sunday. On Monday, the last bus for the aforementioned and Arabs, will leave at 9:30pm.

AMMAN — Japan on Wednesday delivered the first batch of equipment and machinery to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation in support for the water sector, in the presence of Japanese Ambassador Hidenao Yanagi and Minister of Water and Irrigation Ali Ghezawi, an embassy statement said.

The $7 million grant was awarded as part of Japanese aid extended to Jordan in 2016, at an amount of $17 million.

The distribution, which started with the delivery of 61 cargo trucks, will also include 8 water tankers, 5 sludge vacuum vehicles, 7 high pressure jetting vehicles, among other equipment.

During the ceremony, Yanagi said: “Japan highly appreciates Jordan’s hosting of refugees in spite of the mounting pressure on the country’s infrastructure and already limited natural resources.

Therefore, Japan has been continuously supporting Jordan to mitigate the impact and the burden caused by the refugee crisis.”

AMMAN — The Lower House on Tuesday endorsed the 2016 medical and health accountability draft law.

Under the bill, an insurance fund will be established, affiliated with the Higher Medical Council, to cover medical malpractice, obliging “establishments licensed to present medical and health services” to insure practitioners at their premises, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Management of the fund and all relevant affairs are to be determined later through a bylaw.

The bill also stipulates that the Health Ministry should compile a database for licensed medical and health staff, and classify them according to their professional levels in coordination with their respective professional associations.

The ministry has to have in place a special register of medical mistakes that receive final judicial rulings, with the health minister tasked with issuing regulations determining what data, resolutions and rulings have to be listed in this record.

The information in the register will remain confidential and not disclosed except under cases specified in the law.

The draft law defines the medical mistake as “any act or omission by the service provider that deviates from accepted norms of practice within the work environment and causes an injury to the patient”.

MPs endorsed the illegality of ending the life of service recipients under any circumstances, even upon their own request or the request of their parents or caretakers.

Lawmakers also prohibited removing resuscitation devices unless the heart or breath stops completely or if all brain functions stop completely, according to medical standards and when doctors decide that such a condition is irreversible. 

The draft law bans transferring service recipients from their places of treatment — with taking into consideration the special rules concerning communicable diseases — unless their condition allows such a measure or when they have to be transferred for purposes of continued treatment. 

Patients can also be transferred upon their own request, provided they are sane and aware of the consequences of their dispatch, or upon a written approval by a doctor at the treatment place if the patient lacks competence, providing that a patient’s parent or caretaker approves the transfer.

No person is allowed to stay at the treatment place without a justification, the bill stipulates. 

MPs also set as a condition, a written approval of the husband and wife when pregnancy aid technologies are applied, stressing that that embryos can be transplanted into women when the sperm is only obtained from the husband. 

Under the draft law, it is illegal to carry out any act or medical intervention to sterilise females without their written approval and upon an opinion issued by a medical committee of specialists, except for emergency cases.

The bill stipulates a fine ranging between JD3,000 and JD5,000 for violating articles 6 and 7.

Article 6 lists the rules that service providers have to abide by, including compliance with rules and regulations, registering the health condition of patients and their medical history, determining treatment and its dose and methods of use, and informing patients of their medical conditions and level of danger involved.

Article 7 bans carrying out any act related to patient treatment without their consent, except in cases that require emergency intervention, when such approvals are impossible to obtain. The article also prohibits medics from refusing to treat patients, using unlicensed medicines or equipment, or prescribing medicines before clinical examination.  

MPs also criminalised human cloning, research and experiments for cloning purposes and any female sterilisation with prison terms no less than five years and not exceeding10 years, and a fine ranging between JD10,000 and JD50,000.

A prison term of no less than six months and a fine of no less than JD1,000, or either, shall be issued against anyone who conducts medical research on humans without an official permit from relevant institutions. 

Sex change surgeries are punishable with imprisonment terms ranging between three and 20 years.

The draft law allows doubling penalties and fines when the perpetrator of the medical mistake was under influence. 

His Majesty King Abdullah has recently cited the potential enactment of the medical accountability bill as a major step in efforts to encourage medical tourism. 

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday received an invitation from Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz to participate in the Arab summit slated to be held in Dhahran on April 15.

HRH Prince Feisal, the Regent, received King Salman’s invitation letter during a meeting with Saudi Ambassador to Jordan Prince Khalid Bin Faisal at Al Husseiniya Palace, according to a Royal Court statement.

During the meeting, Prince Feisal expressed the Kingdom’s keenness to help render the upcoming summit a success, hoping that the high-profile pan-Arab meeting would come up with decisions that contribute to a more effective joint Arab action and serve just causes of the Arab nation and collective Arabs’ interests. 

Royal Court Chief Fayez Tarawneh and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attended the meeting.

Jordan is the current president of the Arab summit, which was held in Amman in March last year.

Last week, His Majesty met with Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Aboul Gheit, who handed the King an evaluation report on pan-Arab joint action during Jordan’s rotating presidency of the Arab summit.

During the meeting, Aboul Gheit praised the Kingdom’s presidency term, during which, he noted, various decisions were issued that stressed the centrality of the Palestinian cause as well as the importance of peace settlement conflict based on the two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

AMMAN — The government’s economic team has finalised reviewing and updating of the Economic Growth Plan (EGP), a Prime Ministry statement said on Tuesday.

The team began the process in February 2018 applying a comprehensive approach, engaging all concerned ministries and government agencies, according to the statement. 

The revision covered expected cost of projects listed in the plan and resetting the scale of priorities, based on progress made in implementation and the availability of funds.

The project listed in the plan, which was adopted by the government in 2017, will be updated every six month in light of their financial needs.

A prime ministry’s unit in charge of following up on public agencies’ achievements will conduct the updates and publish them on the website dedicated to the blueprint, www.egp.jo. 

The EGP was prepared last year by Economic Policies Council to be implemented over five years (2018-2022), aiming to double growth rates within the set timeframe, according to the statement, which added that the plan is a road map that steers public agencies’ efforts to realise its goal.

During the implementation of the plan, the concerned bodies will conduct meetings to discuss how best to improve the plan, and propose new projects and programmes.

The team will receive inquiries and notes related to the blueprint through the website and will have it answered by the relevant ministers and officials as of the current month, said the statement.

AMMAN — HRH Prince Ali has highlighted Jordan’s efforts to heal traumatised Syrian refugee children through football. 

In a recent interview with CNN, conducted by Becky Anderson, a British journalist and anchor at CNN, Prince Ali explained that football is not only a sport, but a universal language in itself.

Anderson visited the Zaatari refugee camp, during the Laureates and Leaders For Children summit, where she spoke to Prince Ali about how football is helping some children deal with the trauma of Syria’s civil war.

“Through things like football, you bring them a sense of normalcy where they actually participate.” He said that unlike classroom environment, children in the football field interact more efficiently with each other, and this would benefit them in their confidence and improves their social skills after years of war. 

Asked on his insight on how to ensure serious commitments by stakeholders to aid in child refugees around the world, Prince Ali said that people must put pressure on governments to get into action.

According to the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of the World Health Organisation, 58 per cent of refugees in the Al Zaatari, the main Syrian refugee camp, are children from ages zero to 17. 

The most important part of this situation is children must not only be heard, but in fact asked about their aspirations and hopes for the future, according to Prince Ali. 

The purpose of this initiative is to make sure children are living a more healthy and happy life after perhaps seeing death to their families and having an uneasy life.