AMMAN —
The Ministry of Health is tackling outstanding issues related to the
Jordan Medical Council (JMC), which had been put on the back burner for the past two
decades, Khaberni News reported.
اضافة اعلان
The comments by
Minister of Health
Firas Al-Hawari on Monday appeared to address concerns
voiced by some doctors working for state-run medical establishments, including
clinics and hospitals, who accused Hawari himself and JMC, which he chairs, of
ignoring their demands to advance their career status.
Some of the
doctors, including general physicians and specialists, are graduates of medical
schools in Eastern European countries. They claim that regulations in force
exclude their peers who graduated from medical schools in the US and other
Western nations.
Some among the
graduates of eastern bloc countries failed to practice their profession abroad,
or completed training for three years, but did not apply for medical board
certificates from the countries they graduated from.
Under JMC rules,
this category, as well as those who practiced medicine abroad but failed to
pass medical board exams, must undergo training at a Jordanian medical facility
affiliated with the Ministry of Health for five years.
Ultimately, they
must pass a Jordanian medical board test to prove their eligibility to practice
the profession independently, or outside the realm of the government’s
healthcare system.
But some 94
doctors reject the requisites. They staged a sit-in last weekend to protest the
JMC requirements and draw attention to their case.
Hawari told a
session of the
Lower House Health Committee, in which JMC was discussed, that
for 20 years, qualified physicians have been treated like general
practitioners.
“We were able to
reach an equation that would serve them justice, for them to become ‘qualified
specialists’,” the minister said.
He explained that
a qualified physician is one who completed the full training program, but failed
to pass the board exam.
But some members
of the Jordan Medical Association (JMA), whose membership is a requisite to
practice the medical profession in Jordan, told the meeting that JMC
regulations allegedly apply to a certain category of doctors, but excludes
others who graduated from universities abroad and are serving in the Kingdom.
The JMA members
did not elaborate on the categories, but said such regulations inflicts
“injustice” on some doctors.
They demanded
equal treatment for all graduates of universities abroad. They specifically
cited those with certificates of competence granted to them after completing
JMC-approved training programs in recognized hospitals inside and outside the
Kingdom and have practiced the profession for three years inside or outside
Jordan.
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