(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The Kingdom's private hospitals on Tuesday reversed a decision barring the admission of Libyan patients to be treated at the expense of their government after receiving a partial payment of Libya's outstanding dues late on Monday.
Private Hospitals Association (PHA) President Fawzi Hammouri said that although hospitals affiliated with the PHA decided last month to only admit Libyans able to pay cash, the decision was revisited when 20 hospitals received JD30 million out of a total of JD120 million in outstanding debts owed by the Libyan government for treating thousands of Libyan nationals.
The JD30 million is part of a JD50 million payment sent to the Kingdom by Tripoli last week, Hammouri said, adding that another JD15 million would be paid to an additional six hospitals soon. It was not immediately clear what would be done with the remaining JD5 million.
However, he noted that the process of admitting patients will now be more thoroughly organised by the Libyan ministry of health.
"We will only admit patients referred by the Libyan ministry with official papers from the health office that was established recently at their embassy in Amman," Hammouri told The Jordan Times over the phone yesterday.
He said the Libyan government had also appointed a financial manager at that office "to supervise auditing hospitals' bills and ensure that they are paid one month after being audited".
Hammouri also claimed that the cost of treating a Libyan patient in a Jordanian hospital stands at 3,000, compared to 30,000 in other countries that have been receiving Libyan patients.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom's hotels have not yet received any of their outstanding dues from the Libyan government, according to Jordan Hotels Association President Michael Nazzal.
Nazzal told The Jordan Times that the association has been communicating with Libyan authorities on a daily basis, "but we only hear promises".
Figures he presented showed that the Libyan government owed the Kingdom's hotels more than JD70 million.
The JD50 million payment announced last week was expected at the time to be divided between hotels and hospitals.
