Jordanian health sectors' post-pandemic recovery reaches 70% — PHA chief

AMMAN — Chairman of the Private Hospitals Association Fawzi Hammouri on Sunday said that the health sector has achieved a 70 per cent recovery rate compared with pre-pandemic levels.

During the Jordanian-Algerian investment forum, Hammouri said that investment in the health sector is completely tax-exempt according to the draft investment environment law and the current investment law, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He noted that 60 per cent of Jordanian hospitals are private, with an investment volume exceeding JD4 billion and employing more than 35,000 direct employees, and 60,000 indirect employees.

Prior to the spread of the coronavirus, the Kingdom received more than 250,000 patients annually, he said, adding that the health sector was negatively impacted by the pandemic.

Hammouri noted that the number of private hospitals in Jordan stands at 71, compared with 33 public hospitals. There are 15 military hospitals as well as two university hospitals, he said.

Jordan gained a good reputation in the field of primary healthcare, he said, highlighting the Ministry of Health’s contributions to eliminating communicable diseases, thus reaching “the lowest percentage of communicable diseases in the world”, Petra reported.

He underlined the importance of activating the cooperation agreement between Jordan and Algeria signed in 2015, so that Algerian patients can be treated at the expense of Algerian social security.

He stressed the need for bolstering cooperation between Jordanian and Algerian hospitals through training medical personnel and exchanging expertise.

Hammouri also called for participating in the largest medical tourism forum in the world, the World Health and Medical Travel Forum 2022, which is organised by the association under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah from November 19-21.