Four main healthcare-related associations in Jordan have continued their opposition to a longstanding Bill to introduce medical liability insurance in the Kingdom.
Repeating arguments raised since at least last year, the union chiefs said that the Bill favoured insurers, and demanded that the National Assembly not approve it without reference to the views of the associations, reported Al Ghad.
Dr Ali al-Abous, representing the Jordan Medical Association, said that his union did not want its members to be pressured by insurers on one side and lawyers representing patients on the other.
He called for conditions that can be applied to protect doctors and said that a healthy working environment can be provided through guidance and protocols governing the work of doctors, showing them what to do and what to adhere to in diagnosing and treating illnesses.
Doctors also want the medical institution in which they work to be the party that defends them and pays for medical liability insurance and legal costs if cases are taken to court.
Another concern is that patients would be apprehensive that the proposed law would force medical costs to rise, as doctors might ask for unnecessary tests to avoid liability.
In his turn, the head of the association of pharmacists, Dr Zaid al-Kilani said that the draft law overlaps between healthcare services and does not clearly define the areas of medical responsibility.
The representative of the nurses’ union, Mohammed Hathaleh pointed out that it was agreed that the proposed law should be systematically discussed.
He added that there is “high flexibility on the part of the ministry and deputies and dignitaries to come out with a fair, positive and consensual law”.
Dr Ibrahim Tarawneh, head of the dentists’ association, expressed optimism that meetings held by the unions with the Ministry of Health and lawmakers’ Health Committees would lead to modifying the draft law with consensus from the four healthcare associations. M