Jordan to help Kurdistan assess its healthcare needs

AMMAN — Jordan and Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region on Monday agreed to form a technical committee to assess healthcare conditions in the region by sending Jordanian delegations of medical experts in specialisations needed in Kurdistan.

The agreement was reached at a meeting between Health Minister Ali Hiasat and his Kurdish counterpart, Rekawt Karim, to discuss current health cooperation and ways to enhance it.

Hiasat expressed the ministry’s readiness to send Jordanian experts to the region and receive Kurdish delegations to provide training in the fields that Kurdistan requires.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour also met with Karim, who conveyed a message from Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani. 

In the message, Barzani stressed the region’s keenness to develop relations with Jordan and benefit from its expertise in the health sector.

Ensour expressed Jordan’s readiness to support Kurdistan and reviewed the Kingdom’s achievements in the healthcare sector, which have made Jordan a major destination for medical tourism. 

He noted that around 82 per cent of Jordanians have health insurance, and the government plans to expand the coverage to include all citizens.

For his part, Karim expressed Kurdistan’s desire to benefit from Jordanian healthcare expertise, and benefit from the joint memorandum of understanding in the health sector.