USAID supports international accreditation for Jordanian hospitals and conducts two workshops

Also, another one day workshop held on 24 December to introduce JCI Overviews. This workshop targeted an audience from the Royal Scientific Society, University of Jordan Hospital and others, the recent one targeted private hospitals in Jordan, enabling private hospital representatives to discuss actual accreditation standards of the JCI for hospitals and their use and application in Jordan.

Both workshops were conducted by USAID Jordan Economic Development Program (SABEQ)'s medical sector mentor and healthcare expert, Professor and Associate Dean Assaf Al Assaf, MD, from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma, and an EMG consultant in Washington DC.

Discussions in the January workshop covered each chapter of the JCI accreditation manual separately. Methods towards hospitals compliance with JCI standardizations where also freely discussed in interactive sessions between presenter and audience, while the December workshop spoke of JCI standards and conducted a general discussion of the process of preparing for an international accreditation method. USAID's Economic Development Program SABEQ involvement aims to enhance productivity and revenues through following international hospital standardization and creating jobs for Jordanians.


The Medical Services Sector in Jordan is an important and vibrant sector. Medical Tourism derives upon the Kingdom's reputable performance in health services and estimates quote foreign patients generating around $650-700m in revenue to more than 120,000 incoming patients per year. Jordan has a total of 101 hospitals of which 58 are privately run.

One of the main objectives of the national strategy for the medical services sector in Jordan is to target and increase the number of in-coming patients and revenues generated from their treatment and stay in Jordan. By ensuring the standards of Jordanian hospitals through accreditation programs, Jordan can become more competitive on an international level, in the medical tourism sector.

Mr Laith Al Qasem, Chief of Party, USAID Jordan Economic Development Program (SABEQ) covered in his opening speech at the latest workshop, the Program's involvement in initiatives that enhance the performance of the national economy, and improve conditions of living by securing jobs for Jordanians.

In turn, Dr Fawzi Al-Hammouri, Chairman of PHA, thanked SABEQ for adopting this initiative, due to its direct economic impact on the whole medical centre, stressing strengths and competitiveness of Jordanian hospitals and medical cadres: "Four Jordanian hospitals have recently acquired JCI accreditation. Highly qualified Jordanian physicians have secured an outstanding reputation for Jordan in the region and beyond," Dr. Al Hammouri added.

USAID Jordan Economic Development Program (SABEQ) is a five year broad economic development initiative implemented by BearingPoint, Inc. and a sizeable team of international and Jordanian partner firms. By both supporting improvements in the business environment and providing assistance to expand innovation and productivity in Jordanian businesses, to support the main objective of building up the private sector as a powerful engine of economic growth.