Jordanian doctors in high demand in Gulf countries — JMA

AMMAN — The desire to earn higher salaries and improve living standards is among the factors pushing Jordanian doctors to leave the Kingdom and work elsewhere, Jordan Medical Association (JMA) President Hashem Abu Hassan said Monday.

“Jordanian doctors are not migrating; they just receive job opportunities in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries,” Abu Hassan noted.

Hospitals in other countries, he added, seek out Jordanian doctors by placing advertisements in local newspapers.

“Specialised, general and consultant doctors represent the main need of hospitals in Gulf countries,” Abu Hassan told The Jordan Times in a phone interview, noting that Jordanian doctors have a good reputation here and abroad.

Some Jordanian doctors who head to Europe to specialise in a certain medical field are offered jobs at medical institutions there, before coming back to Jordan with the experience they gained, the JMA president said.

The JMA has set a minimum salary of JD850 per month for emergency, general, ICU and resident doctors in the private sector, with the salary increasing according to their experience, according to Abu Hassan. 

Meanwhile, public sector doctors’ salaries depend on their specialisations and the nature of their work, he said, noting that they are underpaid.

“We call on the government to improve work conditions, hold more courses and conferences, and increase incentives for public sector doctors,” Abu Hassan added.

Yaldar Shafaqoj, head of the Health Ministry doctors committee at the JMA, said in previous remarks to the media that 90 per cent of public sector doctors receive less than JD1,000 per month.

Around 28,000 doctors have registered as JMA members since its establishment in 1954, of whom 6,400 work for the public sector and 5,000 in the private sector, according to Nasser Othman, Abu Hassan’s office director. The rest either work abroad, have died or retired, he said.