Khaberni - The Medical Association and the Private Hospitals Association confirmed on Tuesday that the medical profession in the local market is saturated, and the labor market cannot accommodate more graduates, emphasizing the importance of enhancing coordination and partnership among different components of the health sector to address challenges related to the increase in the number of medical college graduates and the limited opportunities for training and employment.
Dr. Issa Al-Khashashneh, head of the Medical Association, said on Tuesday that there is unemployment among doctors in Jordan, pointing out that the main reason is the significant increase in the number of graduates compared to the labor market's absorption capacity, in addition to limited opportunities for training and specialization, and the number of students studying outside Jordan as well.
He confirmed in statements to "Al-Mamlaka" TV channel that there is a real crisis related to unemployment among medical graduates.
He noted that the labor market cannot accommodate the current number of doctors.
He explained that the number of doctors registered with the Jordanian Medical Association since its establishment reached 49,355 doctors, including about 3,000 deceased, 3,000 outside Jordan, and about 4,500 retired doctors.
He clarified that the number of graduates annually ranges from 4-5 thousand doctors, while the residency system can only accommodate about 1,040 doctors, creating a large gap between the number of graduates and the training and employment opportunities.
He pointed out that about 4,454 doctors graduated last year, among them 3,441 from Jordanian universities and 1,013 from abroad, confirming that the local labor market cannot absorb these numbers.
Al-Khashashneh elaborated during a lecture he gave to the graduates of the Medical College at the University of Jordan, that about 23,000 students study medicine inside Jordan, in addition to about 20,000 students studying abroad.
He added that this reality leaves more than 3,400 doctors annually facing great difficulties in joining specialization programs, causing many of them to join unpaid residency programs, emphatically rejecting unpaid residency programs by the Medical Association.
Fawzi Al-Hammouri, head of the Private Hospitals Association, in his talk to "Al-Mamlaka" emphasized the need to determine the number of acceptances in the medical specialty and to raise the required high school grades for studying medicine inside and outside Jordan, given the rising number of graduates and the difficulty of finding job opportunities for them.
Al-Hammouri said that there is a high demand from students to study specialties in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and engineering, which has led to a saturation situation, and there are limited numbers in specialization and employment, stressing the importance of linking education outputs to market needs.
He added that not only is Jordan's need saturated, but also the Gulf countries are now witnessing large numbers of graduates, making it difficult to find job opportunities for doctors unless they specialize in rare and demanded fields.
Al-Hammouri indicated that the number of doctors training in the private sector exceeds one thousand resident doctors, describing the number as relatively large, especially after the facilitations provided by the Jordanian Medical Council in the procedures for recognizing hospitals due to the rising number of doctors.
He pointed out that there are conditions set by both the Jordanian Medical Council and the Arab Medical Council, noting that the minimum number of beds has been reduced from 200 to 150, and partnerships between large and small hospitals have been allowed to implement joint training programs.
He explained that recognizing a private hospital as an educational entity requires certain conditions, including that the number of beds should not be less than 150, in addition to requiring experience in the specialty of no less than 10 years before allowing training programs and accepting students to start.
Al-Hammouri pointed out that the number of private hospitals recognized for specialization purposes has increased over the past ten years to reach 17 hospitals out of 69 private hospitals.
