Malé, Maldives – Health Minister of Maldives Ahmed Naseem said that there are 5 ambulances in Malé city, available for Covid-19 related emergencies in Malé city.
The Health Minister said this in a press conference last night regarding the negligence death of a 10 year old girl, who passed away following an ambulance response time delay of 2 hours 25 minutes.
Minister Naseem said that the ambulances belong to EMC, RRT, Hulhumalé Hospital and IGMH.
This is an adequate number of ambulances for [Covid-19 related emergencies] according to information received.
Minister Naseem
At last night’s press conference, Health Minster Naseem reiterated the statement from March 2021 and reassured that once the ordered 96 ambulances worth MVR 105 are received, there will be no ambulances related difficulties in the Maldives.
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.
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.
