AMMAN - The Ministry of Health on Monday announced the establishment of a new directorate to monitor the Kingdom's medical tourism sector.
According to the ministry's licensing director, Azmi Hadidi, the directorate aims to address any complaints by Arab and foreign patients receiving treatment in the Kingdom and regulate the sector.
"Usually we receive complaints regarding the high cost of treatment and we want to control the issue," Hadidi told The Jordan Times yesterday, adding that the ministry is coordinating with the Kingdom's private hospitals to ensure that they abide by set treatment prices.
Hadidi declined to disclose the number of complaints received by the ministry from foreign patients.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Nayef Fayez said the ministry will come up with mechanisms to monitor medical tourism to maintain the reputation of the country's health sector.
"Through this directorate, we seek to institutionalise the sector, develop medical tourism services and regulate it in order to avoid the problems that arose in previous years," Fayez said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times.
As part of the new measures, he said the ministry will establish a liaison office at the airport to receive patients seeking treatment in the Kingdom's hospitals and provide them with the information they need.
Fayez added that the ministry will also coordinate with embassies of countries that send patients seeking medical care in Jordan and follow up with the patients themselves from the moment they arrive and until they leave.
Considered one of the main contributors to the national economy, medical tourism brings in revenues that reach $1 billion annually.
According to Private Hospitals Association figures, 220,000 patients from across the world received treatment in the Kingdom's private hospitals last year, up from 200,000 in 2008 and 190,000 in 2007.
By Khetam Malkawi
© Jordan Times 2010
