Genetic engineers now recognised as medical practitioners

AMMAN — After struggling for six years to “reclaim” their rights, genetic engineers are now considered medical practitioners after a recent Health Ministry decision.

When the Public Health Law was amended in 2008, genetic engineers lost this classification, a decision made under the pretext that the specialisation does not qualify its graduates to open their own laboratories.

Until recently, genetic engineers were not able to obtain licences to practise their profession legally, although the specialisation continued to be taught at universities.

“We have been struggling for years to have this specialisation listed as a medical profession. The 2008 Public Health Law affected more than 5,000 genetic engineers,” Ramzi Foudeh, president of the Jordanian Society for Genetic Engineers (JSGE), told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

“The new decision will allow graduates to work in the local and international labour markets and reduce unemployment in the sector, while contributing to the development of the profession in Jordan,” he said. 

Foudeh noted that the society raised the issue with the Cabinet three years ago, but the government maintained that genetic engineers do not have a clear job title and formed a committee to study the issue.

The committee, which included members of the Health Ministry, the Civil Service Bureau and the JSGE, recommended reinstating genetic engineers’ job title.

“But the decision remained on the shelf,” Foudeh said, adding that the unemployment rate in the specialisation reaches 94 per cent.

The JSGE president highlighted that the new decision will also enable the opening of their own genetic test labs, which he said are crucial given the large number of diseases that are emerging in the region due to endogamy.

“The decision is a triumph for science,” he concluded.