Malé, Maldives – Minister of Health, Ahmed Naseem (Kerafa Naseem) has admitted that there was negligence of Health Ministry in last nights case which resulted in the death of 10 year old girl.
According to the family of the deceased, the 10 year old girl child had tested positive for Covid-19 virus a few days back and the symptoms worsened in the past two days. The girl had passed away after being taken to IGMH emergency room following breathlessness.
According to sources, she was unconscious when she was taken to the ER after the ambulance reached the girls home after more than 2 hours 25 minutes since they had called.
Speaking at the press conference held tonight, following the public criticism and pressure from the general public, Minister Naseem stated that they had identified negligence of the ambulance service and those who attended the case and that the investigation would be over by tonight.
Minister Naseem also added that all the information from the investigation of the case other than the medical information would be released after the investigation is completed.
Health Ministry had earlier told that in light of this incident, immediate changes have been implemented by the Ministry to the mechanism that triggers ambulance deployment.
This comes while earlier in May 2021, an ambulance took 1 hour 20 minutes to arrive for someone who collapsed in quarantine. While the Addu Emergency Operations Center were on top of the situation, according to the family they simply did not have the resources. Another incident took place in Malé where it took 4 hours for an ambulance to collect a Covid-19 positive patient who had collapsed in isolation.
The Covid-19 situation has deteriorated rapidly in the Maldives in the past month with the virus spreading to all parts of the country and death rates increasing exponentially.
Doctors are warning that Maldives that Covid-19 is out of control in the country, and the healthcare workers are stretched to their limits.
With the active health facilities in the country overburdened with Covid-19 patients, the non-Covid-19 treatments are threatened to be hampered. Medical professionals have repeatedly stressed the threat of medical facilities being overburdened to the point that they have to choose patients to treat depending on who is sicker.
