AMMAN: Progress on two new medical facilities, located in Irbid and Amman, could add much-needed capacity to Jordan’s health sector as it copes with rising demand for health care services.
In mid-January the government began the pre-qualification process for the Princess Basma Educational Hospital project. The tender, which was originally floated by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in November 2015, had received 13 separate bids from Jordanian and Saudi consortiums.
Construction on the 500-bed facility is set to cost around JD50m ($70.5m), with funding earmarked to come from the Saudi Fund for Development, Saudi Arabia’s $1.25bn commitment to the $5bn Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) development grant for Jordan, announced in December 2011.
January also saw the opening of a new World Health Organisation (WHO) medical facility in Amman, created to serve as a regional centre for health emergencies and polio eradication.
“Iraq, Syria and Yemen are just three in a list of countries in the region requiring large-scale, ongoing humanitarian health assistance,” Dr Ala Alwan, director of the eastern Mediterranean region at the WHO, said at the facility’s opening ceremony in mid-January.
“As we scale-up our regional capacity to respond to emergencies, the emergency team based here in Amman will have a key role in ensuring that in all 22 countries of the region, [the] WHO is better prepared to respond to current and new crises.”
