Saturdays will be holidays for public hospitals — ministry

AMMAN — The Health Ministry has decided to mark Saturdays as a weekly holiday for public hospitals beginning next year, Health Minister Ghazi Zaben said on Monday.  

Health Ministry Spokesperson Hatem Azrui told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that the ministry had made arrangements to implement the decision and reschedule patients’ Saturday appointments.

Azrui said that the decision would not affect patients, since working hours will be extended to 5pm, noting that the ministry had already extended the working hours of night clinics to 5pm.

He stressed that emergency rooms would receive patients 24 hours a day. 

Zaben called on the hospitals’ administration to provide enough medical, technical and nursing personnel during the Friday and Saturday holidays to continue services for resident patients.

Azrui added that the Friday and Saturday holidays would grant employees enough time to rest and come back to work more active, adding that medical centres would continue to receive patients on Saturdays as usual. 

According to the ministry’s website, 32 public hospitals, including the National Centre for Addiction and the National Centre of Psychiatry, are affiliated with the ministry.