The government has implemented a series of measures since the beginning of this year aimed at paying outstanding amounts owed to university hospitals, with the goal of strengthening their financial stability and enabling them to continue providing healthcare services to citizens efficiently.
اضافة اعلان
On January 4, 2026, the Cabinet approved an agreement to settle debts owed to the Jordan University Hospital for medical treatments. The government paid JOD 6.8 million from the state budget, bringing the total amount paid to the hospital to JOD 10.6 million for debts related to medical exemptions during 2024 and 2025.
Two weeks earlier, the Cabinet had also approved an agreement to settle debts owed to King Abdullah University Hospital resulting from medical treatments. The agreement included an initial payment of JOD 10 million, in addition to a commitment to pay JOD 3 million per month starting at the beginning of this year until the full amount—estimated at approximately JOD 39.6 million—is settled.
These decisions are part of the government’s efforts to clear financial arrears accumulated over several years and support the budgets of university medical institutions, strengthening their financial stability. This, in turn, is expected to ensure the continuity and improve the efficiency of healthcare services provided to citizens.
Specialists and experts told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) that settling debts owed to hospitals for medical treatments goes beyond addressing a financial issue. It directly affects hospitals’ ability to sustain treatment and diagnostic services, maintain readiness to receive patients, retain qualified medical and nursing staff, and continue developing facilities and medical equipment according to priorities.
Dr. Nader Al-Bsoul, Director General of Jordan University Hospital, said resolving the hospital’s outstanding debts is not merely a financial settlement but a strategic step with long-term impact, particularly because the hospital is an essential part of Jordan’s healthcare system and plays a central role in providing medical and treatment services, as well as fulfilling educational and research responsibilities.
He added that improving the hospital’s financial stability directly strengthens its ability to fulfill its mission by ensuring the availability of medicines, supplies, and medical equipment and maintaining the continuity and efficiency of patient services. It also reduces the impact of financial pressures and obligations.
Settling outstanding payments gives the hospital greater capacity to plan and manage its resources efficiently, allowing it to direct more funding toward developing medical services, upgrading equipment and technologies, and improving infrastructure instead of using resources to address accumulated liabilities.
Al-Bsoul noted that the long-term impact extends beyond improving the hospital’s financial position. It strengthens its ability to continue developing and performing its role as an active component of the healthcare sector, ultimately improving the quality of healthcare provided to citizens and strengthening the health system’s ability to address current and future needs and challenges.
Retired Major General Dr. Musa Al-Ajlouni, Senior Health Systems Advisor, said the government’s payment of a significant portion of its debts to university hospitals—particularly Jordan University Hospital and King Abdullah University Hospital—represents support for the sustainability of one of the most important components of healthcare and medical education in the Kingdom. Its impact goes beyond simply addressing a budget item.
Al-Ajlouni said settling outstanding payments improves the liquidity and financial sustainability of university hospitals, eases pressure on their cash flows, and enables them to meet obligations to suppliers, banks, employees, and support-service providers.
He noted that these hospitals treat complex cases and provide highly specialized and advanced medical technologies, many of which are costly, while also carrying educational and research responsibilities.
Improved liquidity enables hospitals to purchase medicines, medical supplies, and equipment, settle supplier payments, and ensure uninterrupted procurement. This positively affects the continuity and quality of healthcare services. He stressed the importance of ensuring that government payments are regular rather than limited to exceptional interventions, which would help maintain equipment and facilities and support the recruitment and retention of medical professionals.
Al-Ajlouni explained that supporting university hospitals represents an investment in Jordan’s healthcare human capital, as these institutions serve as treatment, educational, and research centers responsible for training medical students, resident doctors, and specialists.
Settling arrears also helps reduce financing costs, break the “healthcare debt chain” resulting from accumulated supplier debts and borrowing, and strengthen trust between the government and healthcare institutions.
He stressed that true success should not be measured solely by the amount of debt repaid, but by the government’s ability to prevent debts from accumulating again. He called for a sustainable mechanism based on identifying services and their costs, allocating the necessary funding in advance, implementing electronic invoicing, auditing claims, and ensuring regular periodic payments.
He emphasized that university hospitals are strategic national assets and that supporting their financial sustainability constitutes a direct investment in the sustainability of Jordan’s healthcare system.
Meanwhile, Dr. Rimal Musa, Associate Professor of Health Economics and Public Health at the University of Jordan’s Faculty of Pharmacy, said settling hospital debts and outstanding payments owed to medical institutions is an important step toward strengthening the sustainability of healthcare services and ensuring the continued delivery of healthcare efficiently and at a high standard.
She noted that the accumulation of financial receivables puts pressure on hospitals’ available liquidity and limits their ability to meet operational obligations, secure medicines and medical supplies, and maintain equipment and facilities.
Regular payments, she said, would strengthen the financial stability of healthcare institutions and improve their ability to plan and make investment and operational decisions more effectively.
The impact of settling outstanding payments, she added, extends beyond healthcare institutions to the various components of the broader healthcare economy.
When hospitals and healthcare providers receive their payments on time, they are better able to pay employees, meet their obligations to suppliers, and invest in infrastructure and healthcare technology. This also stimulates the economic cycle associated with the healthcare sector, improves resource efficiency, and reduces the need to postpone investments or cut certain services because of financial pressures—ultimately benefiting the continuity of services provided to citizens.
From a health-economics perspective, Musa explained, addressing accumulated debt represents an investment in the sustainability of the healthcare system. It helps protect financial resources, direct them toward priority services, and improve the efficiency of healthcare spending.
It can also help reduce the costs associated with payment delays and financial bottlenecks, which may eventually affect the quality or accessibility of healthcare services.
She concluded that settling outstanding payments is not simply a matter of addressing existing financial obligations; it also provides a boost to healthcare-sector stability, spending efficiency, and the long-term sustainable growth of the healthcare economy.
