Healthcare Preparedness in Jordan: Building a Resilient System for Crisis and Emergency Response
Healthcare Preparedness in Times of Crisis: Are Hospitals and Governments Ready?
In an increasingly uncertain world, healthcare preparedness has become essential to ensure continuity of care during crises and large-scale emergencies. Across the region, governments and hospitals are strengthening coordination, investing in digital systems, and enhancing emergency response capabilities to build more resilient health systems.
In this feature, Hospitals Magazine speaks with Dr. Fawzi Al-Hammouri, Chairman of the Private Hospitals Association (PHA) in Jordan, who shares insights on how the country integrates healthcare preparedness into its national crisis management strategy and the role of private hospitals in supporting national resilience.
How does our country integrate healthcare preparedness into its national emergency and crisis response strategy?
Jordan integrates healthcare preparedness into its national strategy through a multi-sectorial approach led by key institutions. The National Center for Security and Crisis Management (NCSCM) serves as the central coordination platform, consolidating efforts of security agencies, government bodies, and civil defence to manage crises through strategic planning and unified action. At the health policy level, the Jordan Center for Disease Control (JCDC) leads national coordination to prepare for, detect, and respond to public health threats. Its mission explicitly includes strengthening preparedness and response through partnerships with all related entities.
The Private Hospitals Association (PHA), which serves as the umbrella organization representing the private hospitals in Jordan is involved with both the NCSCM and JCDC in responding to all types of crises, PHA ensures that the private health sector’s capabilities are integrated into national efforts. The national approach shifts to anticipatory, resilience-based methods grounded in data and scientific evidence, with core pillars that include governance, institutional integration, digital transformation, and national capacity-building for prevention and response.
How does your Hospital prepare for large-scale emergencies or crises that may impact healthcare services and patient safety?
The Specialty Hospitals as well as other large hospitals in Jordan prepare for large-scale emergencies through a combination of infrastructure readiness, continuous staff training, and integration with national early warning systems and in collaboration with PHA and NCSCM.
We have an emergency plan that we activate when necessary, we make sure that we have enough supplies from essential products both medical and nonmedical. Our hospital was classified by NCSCM and 12 other private hospitals as tier one hospitals in readiness to respond to crises according to their readiness in human resources and the facilities available at the hospital.
What measures are in place to ensure continuity of care, medical supplies, and staff readiness during times of war or regional instability?
Measures to ensure continuity of care during instability are built on institutional integration, surge capacity, and robust supply chains. Jordan’s experience with regional crises has tested and proven the health system’s resilience and adaptability. The Private Hospitals Association (PHA), plays a pivotal role in these measures. It led the development of the “Takamul” platform in collaboration with the government, which updates hospitals’ data daily and links it directly with the related authorities. This platform is a critical digital tool for real-time resource tracking, ensuring that decision-makers know the exact status of bed capacity, supplies, and staffing across the private sector to make informed decisions during a crisis.
How does your Hospital coordinate with national authorities and emergency services to respond effectively during crises?
Coordination is structured through formal protocols and centralized platforms. The primary hub for this coordination is the NCSCM, which leads the coordinated national response when threats escalate, ensuring all entities, including hospitals, act in a unified manner. The Private Hospitals Association (PHA), serves as the primary liaison between its members and national authorities. Furthermore, the PHA’s coordination with the Ministry of Interior to facilitate patient entry is a key example of this cross-sectoral work, removing administrative barriers during crises. This is further strengthened by the “Takamul” platform, which enables real-time data sharing with the Capital Governorate, and the hospital classification system developed with the NCSCM, which ensures that national authorities know each hospital’s capabilities and can direct patients and resources accordingly.
- What Role do Hospitals and Healthcare institutions play within the national framework for managing large-scale emergencies?
Hospitals and healthcare institutions are the frontline executors of the national response framework. Their role is to provide advanced medical services while also acting as nodes in the national surveillance and response network. The Private Hospitals Association (PHA), amplifies this role by ensuring a unified and coordinated private sector response. Jordan’s health system has been a crucial tool in fulfilling national humanitarian obligations, such as receiving and treating complex medical cases from the Gaza Strip, including cardiac surgery, oncology, and trauma care, with the PHA coordinating the private sector’s contribution to these efforts.
What key initiatives or investments are being implemented to strengthen the resilience of healthcare systems during times of war?
Key investments focus on digital infrastructure, human capital, and international partnerships to build a resilient system capable of withstanding shocks like war. The development of centralized coordination platforms like the NCSCM represents a long-term strategic investment in national resilience, transforming emergency management from ad-hoc reactions to methodical, evidence-based processes. On the digital front, the Capital Governorate led the development of the “Takamul” platform in partnership with PHA to ensure real-time data visibility across the private sector. The PHA also collaborates with the NCSCM on the hospital classification system, allowing for optimized resource allocation during a crisis. Additionally, the PHA’s coordination with the Ministry of Interior on the e-visa system, while facilitating medical tourism in peacetime, also creates a streamlined process for the entry of foreign nationals or medical evacuees during regional instability. These digital and infrastructural investments, combined with the PHA’s continuous staff training programs and multi-sectoral coordination, form the bedrock of a healthcare system ready to face the challenges of war and regional instability.
