Medical association to sue Ammonnews, Roya TV over reports of ‘phone left in patient after surgery’

AMMAN — The Jordan Medical Association (JMA) council on Monday said it is going ahead with filing lawsuits against media outlets for “harming the reputation of the local medical sector” that annually generates over JD1 billion in revenues.

JMA council member Basem Kiswani accused Ammonnews website and Roya satellite TV channel of publishing false news, noting that they were “unprofessional” in reporting news that harmed the sector’s reputation.

Kiswani claimed that both outlets published and broadcast reports about a doctor leaving a mobile in the body of a patient who underwent a Caesarean section in a public hospital “without verifying the credibility of her family’s claims”.

In response, Roya General Manager Fares Sayegh said they received the complaint from the patient’s family and published and broadcast both the complaint and the response of medics.

“We were professional in our reporting,” Sayegh said, adding that the channel will continue to follow up on the case until one of the parties involved (the patient or the hospital) provides evidence supporting their claims.

Ammonnews had the same response.

“We tried to get a reaction from Health Ministry officials and medics at the hospital immediately after we received the complaint from the patient’s family, but no one wanted to comment,” a source at Ammonnews told The Jordan Times.

However, “after we ran the news, ministry officials started calling and sending statements,” said the source, who asked to remain unnamed, pointing out that the website published a video of the patient’s husband. 

“Thus we are not responsible for the claim.”