Malé, Maldives – Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH)’s Hiya Wing also known as Ward A, has been designated as a Covid-19 treatment facility.
In a press conference conducted by the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC), President’s Office Spokesperson Mabrook Azeez stated that the wing is fully prepared for the treatment of Covid-19 since yesterday.
Mabrook added that the ward has a total of nine beds, out of which four are currently occupied. He further added that efforts were being made to specialize other wards of the hospital for Covid-19 as well.
Initially, the Hulhumalé Hospital had been assembled into a Covid-19 facility, due to the surge in the number of positive cases in the Maldives as of recently. The Hulhumalé Covid-19 facility has 249 bed capacity. About 17 doctors and 61 nurses are working at the facility.
Speaking at at a press conference on May 5, held by the Health Emergency Operations Center, President’s Office Spokesperson Mabrook stressed on the multiple plans of the government to increase the health care capacity in Maldives. This includes operationalisation of additional ICUs, hospital beds as well as a flu clinic in greater Malé region. 50 additional hospital beds to be added to Hulhumalé Hospital.
Speaking at the conference, Mabrook talked about a contingency plan to increase the number hospital beds and ICUs currently in use. He noted that work is being done to operationalize 50 beds at the Hulhumalé Hospital. He added that plans have been made to develop an additional flu clinic and sample collection center.
Spokes person Mabrook said that the DH11 facility of Dharumavantha Hospital is currently full and that a patient is being treated at Hulhumalé medical facility. He added that 8 additional beds are put to be in use at this facility on 5 May.
In addition to this, Mabrook said that Velidhoo Isolation Facility is to be put into operation as the 111 beds at Farukolhufushi Isolation Facility and multiple other healthcare facilities are being fully occupied. He also noted that 171 out of the 248 beds at Hulhumalé Medical Facility are now occupied and that the DH16 facility at Dharumavantha Hospital specialized for pregnant women is also one bed away from being fully occupied.
Due to the escalating number of cases, Football Association of Maldives gave the FAM House building to HPA to be used as a Covid-19 facility.
Statistics have shown that every 3 people tested for Covid-19, one person is tested positive for the virus in Malé. Even in the last 24 hours, 1,433 people have tested positive for Covid-19. The Maldives currently has 16,997 active cases with 268 hospitalized for the virus. The number of deaths related to Covid-19 was up to 104 today.
