AMMAN — The Kingdom is moving towards “controlling the inputs of the health process, optimising the available capabilities and resources in all sectors in an integrated manner” to contain and limit the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, caretaker Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said on Wednesday.

 

Speaking during the first meeting of the Public Health Logistic Support Team, the premier said that amid the increasing number of COVID-19 infections, the magnitude of challenge has changed, which requires proactive, rapid and immediate measures by all state agencies, highlighting the need of partnership in the use of the health system's infrastructure: Public, private and military hospitals.

 

The Public Health Logistic Support Team was formed on Tuesday by the government to set operational, administrative and logistical plans and propose alternatives to deal with the coronavirus pandemic based on the number of infections, the Jordan News agency, Petra, reported. 

 

During the meeting that focused on supporting the Ministry of Health by administrative and logistical operations in all areas to allow the ministry manage the repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis, Razzaz warned that the increase in the number of new infections “may force to prepare for the worst-case scenario”.

 

The PM also stressed the importance of scaling up efforts to ensure the readiness of the Kingdom's health system, notably the number of isolation rooms, intensive care units and ventilators in the event of a double surge in the number of infections. 

 

He also called on the team to meet on a daily basis to issue a daily report outlining the Ministry of Health's needs to overcome the difficulties.

 

In press remarks followed the meeting, Razzaz said: "The number of coronavirus infections requires working in a different way, because the number of epidemiological investigation teams and laboratory tests is constantly increasing, which requires increasing the number of laboratories in a decentralised way".

 

Minister of Local Administration in the caretaker government Walid Masri, who is also the head of the Public Health Logistics Support Team, said the team was tasked with supplying the Health Ministry with human and medical resources, equipment and finding a decentralised operating mechanism for laboratories, Petra reported.

 

The team will identify the number of available beds in the Kingdom's hospitals, number of intensive care units, artificial respirators, in addition to the rooms that can be converted into intensive care rooms, Masri added.

 

The newly formed team will help the Ministry of Health with administrative and logistical matters which consume 70 per cent of the ministry’s daily efforts and operations, Minister of Health in the caretaker government Saad Jaber said.

 

Jaber added that the team will coordinate with the Civil Service Bureau to ensure medical services providers, in addition to signing contracts with companies for quality control and processes automation, to speed up the results of tests among others.