Health Ministry outlines new strategies to address overcrowding in hospitals

Health Ministry outlines new strategies to address overcrowding in hospitals

Ammon News - Jordan is setting in motion multiple strategies to address the ramifications of overcrowding and its subsequent costs on its health sector, using tech-infused scientific solutions to boost the efficiency of the healthcare system, according to Minister of Health Firas Hawari.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the Jordan News Agency (Petra) last Thursday, the minister highlighted a number of measures to resolve the issue, including building new hospitals, building a virtual hospital and leveraging technology to manage pharmaceutical warehouses, in addition to challenges undermining the sector, including the increasing number of refugees hosted in the Kingdom and the dwindling international support for countries hosting Syrian refugees.

Hawari explained that Jordan, over the past century, has received waves of refugees from different countries, the latest of which was a wave of Syrian refugees who are estimated to be 1.3 million in number, indicating that of those 10 percent of Syrian refugees are living in camps, while 90 percent are living in governorates across the Kingdom. Coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian crisis, which have burdened the national economy, the waves of refugees have impacted bed capacity, bringing down the number of available beds in the Jordanian health