Bangladeshi medical team to assist in Maldives’ Covid-19 vaccination program

Nurses prepping to administer Covishield vaccine | Photo: President's Office

Male’, Maldives — A Bangladeshi medical team of healthcare professionals are set to arrive in Maldives today to assist in the “Covid-19 Dhifaau” country-wide vaccination drive.

The President’s Office has informed that upon the request of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, a team of 23 Bangladeshi healthcare experts from the Bangladesh Air Force are expected to arrive today to assist the Maldivian healthcare workers in the “Covid-19 Dhifaau” vaccination program.

The 23 officials in the Bangladeshi team will be consisting of 11 nurses, 10 medical assistants and an anesthesiologist who will be working alongside medical workers in the Maldives. They will be working in health centers in atolls as well as in the hospitals across the nation for two months from their arrival.

The President’s Office noted that the input of Bangladeshi healthcare professionals will prove to be very useful in inoculating the migrant workers from Bangladesh who may hesitant in administering the vaccine. They noted that the Bangladeshi expatriates will be able to overcome linguistic barriers that might have prevented them from accessing vaccination facilities.

Making the Covid-19 vaccine equitably accessible to all Maldivian nationals and migrant workers — documented and undocumented migrant workers alike — is a key policy of the Government’s Covid response.

Maldives launched “Covid-19 Dhifaau” country-wide vaccination drive on February 1st, 2020. On February 24, 2021, the Maldives inoculated the first batch of migrant workers under the vaccination drive. The Maldives is making headway in its bid to vaccinate the whole population against Covid-19, providing the first dose of the vaccine to 123,665 individuals as of 2 March 2021.