Spain “exports” the strengths of its national health system to Jordan

Santander (EFE). – The strengths of the National Health System (SNS), how to organize primary care and specialized health training, screening programs and training of professionals are links in the health chain that Jordan learns in Spain. The idea is that this country can replicate everything that can be used from the Spanish model.

Within a project funded by the European Union and directed in Spain by the CSAI Foundation of the Ministry of Health, a Jordanian delegation visited several Spanish regions these days.

This campaign was also to the Ministry itself to learn more about the National Health System on site.

Galicia was one of the regions visited, where the delegation learned about policies for chronic patients and how to deal with emergencies outside the hospital.

They also explained primary care to him and he saw the A Estrada (Pontevedra) health center, which is the most awarded in BIC (Best in Class).

This group also moved across the Basque Country, whose authorities offered them their cancer screening programmes.

And in Cantabria, expedition members witnessed innovation and simulation techniques to train professionals at the Valdecilla Virtual Hospital.

The project coordinator, Miguel Rodriguez, explains to EFE that the Jordanian delegation is gathering information and finding out how the health system is organized in Spain.

The ultimate goal is to “repeat in context everything that can be repeated”.

In this sense, Spanish health officials and experts have traveled to Jordan on several occasions to train professionals from the country there.

And they’ve done this in primary care indications, in public health, and how to train resident educators and family physicians.

Rodríguez indicates that it is a long-term project, so it has already been approved to extend the term until July 2025.

The idea is to strengthen the Jordanian health system, in the context of the arrival and reception of Syrian refugees.

Governance and leadership

Dr. Anas Al-Muhtasib, a member of the Jordanian delegation, highlights the importance of this collaborative experience.

This is because it involves “transferring talents, highly experienced people” who put their knowledge on the ground, “generating great wealth.”

Of everything they have seen so far in the programme, Anas considers everything to do with governance, as well as techniques for promoting leadership development, to be the most beneficial to his country.

“It’s important to know how to help professionals get creative and find solutions to problems,” he says.

And at that exact point in the training, they visited the Valdecilla de Santander virtual hospital. “The Royal House of Jordan is interested in creating a simulation center in that country, and therefore the training and this visit,” says Miguel Rodriguez.

Feeling lonely in the elderly

The Jordanian delegate sees decentralization as a great strength for the Spanish system.

“I think it’s an important advantage because each region, depending on its context, can make its own decisions and personalize health, with policies better targeted at its citizens,” he says.

Dr. Anas Al-Mohtaseb also highlights the “huge investment” and good infrastructure of Spanish healthcare.

As a “necessity” and a challenge to Spanish society as a whole, he emphasized that “there are many old people who live alone” in Spain.

Technology will not replace that unit. It can help take care of these people, but it’s a problem that won’t be fixed with machines,” he warns.