Pundits say health sector goals attainable

AMMAN — Health sector representatives said achieving targets set in the health component of the Jordan 2025 10-year blueprint requires amending related legislation, building capacity of workers in the field and streamlining health insurance institutions.

According to experts, covering all Jordanians with health insurance is a priority, as more than 30 per cent of them do not have any health coverage. 

Comprehensive health insurance

Including all Jordanians, regardless of their place of work, under a unified health insurance is highlighted as one of the objectives to be achieved by 2025 in the agenda, but the mechanism and whether it is going to be comprehensive or basic insurance is not “clear”.

Walid Maani, former minister of health and higher education, said there is a “comprehensive” and “basic” insurance. The latter, he said, is when a person purchases medical insurance from a company that does not cover chronic disease.

A country like Jordan, with its economic challenges, cannot provide all citizens with “comprehensive health insurance” as it is too costly. Thus a study on financing health should be conducted to work out how much citizens should pay for medication outside their insurance.

So it is important, according to Maani, to define the type of health insurance referred to in the 2025 vision.

But for Yassin Husban, head of the Senate’s Health Committee, although there are no accurate figures on annual spending on health insurance, estimates show that the spending reaches JD1.7 billion (including public and military). He said that providing comprehensive health insurance for citizens is not impossible.

Husban, who is also a former health minister, noted that this plan will not succeed unless there is a unified health entity to regulate the sector and avoid, for example, duplicate health insurance, an issue that is presently “common”.

Medical tourism

Medical tourism is also highlighted as one of top priorities that should be developed and supported, as Jordan tops countries of the region in medical tourism and is one of the top five states in providing the service worldwide.

Annually the sector revenues exceed $2 billion.

In order to develop this industry and attract more patients to come for treatment in Jordan, “private hospitals should be supported to be able to maintain their competitiveness”, said Fawzi Hammouri, head of the Private Hospitals Association.

He noted that hospitals pay 25 per cent of their operational cost to cover electricity, while globally the rate does not exceed 12 per cent. “This affects our chances of competing with other hospitals in the region,” he said.

“We pay 266 fils per kilowatt of electricity,” while factories pay 90 fils per kilowatt, Hammouri explained, calling on the government to reduce electricity tariffs for hospitals as it has recently done with the country’s hotels.

Zuhair Abu Faris, head of Jordan Hospitals Association, agrees, noting that hospitals have applied for approval to establish solar energy projects to reduce their energy bill but there has been no cooperation from concerned authorities.

Another issue that would help in encouraging medical tourism is facilitating visa requirements for patients from restricted countries such as Sudan and Kurdistan.

“We lose thousands of patients from these countries due to the visa requirement and they go to other countries of the region that facilitate their entry,” Hammouri told The Jordan Times.

Medical tourism also needs more aggressive promotion and contributions from other bodies to these efforts, Hammouri said, noting that hospitals work single-handedly in promoting medical tourism.

This was also echoed by Abu Faris.

He noted that promoting the Kingdom’s medical tourism should be part of promoting tourism in general.

“Jordan Tourism Board should help us in this regard… It is an important national sector that generates billions annually,” Abu Faris said.

Medical accountability law

Drafting and enacting a medical accountability law was underscored as a priority in the 2025 vision as such a law could help encourage more patients to come to Jordan.

Experts interviewed said that in some countries, patients are not allowed to go for treatment in other countries unless there is such a law that ensures protecting their rights in case medical errors occur.

In Jordan, a law was drafted in 2001 but has not been endorsed yet, according to Maani.

The Jordan Medical Association has some reservations against the draft law that has been discussed several times by stakeholders.

According to Abu Faris, the bill should protect both patients and care providers.

Hammouri also noted that it is time to enact the law to help streamline the relation between medics and patients, and define their responsibilities.

Shortage in medics and specialties

Achieving the above mentioned priorities requires an adequate number of qualified medics and a halt to brain drain in the sector, according to Hammouri and Abu Faris.

Both said Jordanian doctors are no longer provided with the opportunity to become specialists in the US or UK, as after 2001, priority there was given to nationals and doctors from Europe. Therefore, Hammouri called on authorities to sign agreements with these countries to provide Jordanian doctors with this opportunity.

In addition, Hammouri said amending labour legislation is a necessity under the circumstances, as there is a shortage in female nurses, while hospitals cannot contract foreign nurses unless they obtain the approval of the nurses and midwives syndicate that usually “refuses our request”.