Press Review of the week
March 21st 2011
In this context of social unrest, health is at stake. The 35th Round of Arab Health Ministers Council was held in Beirut on 9 and 10 March under the patronage of Arab Hospital Federation (MedHealth Beirut 2011).
In the United States, Peter J. Cunningham in a recent study about the limitations with regards to the extension of MedicAid coverage questioned the number of physicians for primary care for people who need it most. The Council of Arab Health Ministers decided a $1 million-injection into the Arab Fund for the Economic and Social Development and a Strategic Plan for Primary Health Care development and Family Medicine (2011-2016). The Arab Council for Health will be in charge of specific programs, courses and diplomas in order to train health workers and physicians to family medicine.
Credits : Alriyadh.com
Nevertheless, on the ground, reality is different. The Jordan Times remembers us the harsh conditions of public physicians. In Jordan, doctors were on strike to engage the government to raise their wages: Health Minister was not blind albeit he could not do anything… The Hashemite Kingdom faces on the one hand a budget deficit of $2 billion in 2009 and an external debt of $11 billion and on the other hand social concessions ($240 million for bread, $169 million for education and health, $100 million US aid, etc.) needed to soothe popular unrest about soaring food prices.
As said Masri Feki in his interview, we have to rethinking the model of healthcare within this new context. But is money sufficient to silence alarmist voices?
