AMMAN - The Ministry of Health is currently studying a proposal by the Jordan Nurses and Midwives Association (JNMA) to increase salaries of public sector nurses, a senior government official said on Monday.
Minister of Health Yassin Husban said the ministry is aware of the urgent need to improve incentives for nurses working in the ministry's hospitals and health centres.
"We cannot meet these demands overnight as we have to study them based on the budget we have," he told The Jordan Times over the phone yesterday.
Husban stressed that the ministry is not rejecting the demands, but needs to examine them.
He also noted that the ministry submitted demands by the Jordan Pharmacists Association (JPhA) to increase its members' salaries to the Cabinet.
Members of both associations have threatened to take action if the ministry does not meet their demands.
JNMA President Khalid Abu Azizeh said the association will take action if the ministry does not improve nurses' financial benefits and incentives before Thursday March 31.
"We have not yet decided whether we are going to stage a sit-in, but we will hold a meeting on Thursday to agree on the procedure we will adopt," he told The Jordan Times yesterday.
Abu Azizeh noted that nurses working in the public sector start with a basic salary of JD350 if they are employed through the Civil Service Bureau, and JD250 if they are hired on a contract basis.
Meanwhile, JPhA members working in the public sector said they will hold a sit-in on Saturday in front of the Professional Associations Complex in Shmeisani to urge the government to meet their financial demands and give them the same incentives as doctors and dentists, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
JPhA President Mahmoud Ababneh said the 300 public sector pharmacists also plan to carry out a work stoppage on April 17 if the government does not meet their demands.
© Jordan Times 2011
