Addu City, Maldives – Opposition leader, former President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayoom has said that Addu Equatorial Hospital (AEH) is not being run properly.
Speaking to the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) members in Feydhoo yesterday afternoon after his arrival to Addu City on a three day trip, Yameen said that after the previous convention center was converted into a hospital and equipped with modern equipment that it is still unable to be operated at full capacity.
The current tertiary level hospital was built at the Equatorial Convention Center (ECC) built during the Mohamed Nasheed’s administration to host the 17th SAARC Summit. The place was converted into a hospital during the Yameen’s administration when the place was neglected and left in ruins.
Construction of the tertiary-level hospital began during former President Yameen’s administration, funded by a loan from Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).
A total of MVR 171 million was spent on the hospital, including the procurement of equipment for the hospital.
AEH was completed and officially opened on January 15, 2020.
“We thought the best thing to do was to convert it into a tertiary hospital. We had to do all the repairs and fix everything and put in the latest technology and provide the latest equipment. Then it’s not my problem if the people there do not to know how to utilize the place [AEH],” Yameen explained.
“Why don’t they know how to use it? There is a person of this city running the hospital today. I’m not saying he has no obstacles. But how come the place is not being run or utilized properly?”
Yameen also said he had done a lot of development in five years, contrary to what he expected. Among them, 68 specialists were prepared to be sent to various hospitals but what happened to them is unknown, he said.
“This huge investment was made to prepare the doctors needed for such hospitals in the atolls,” he said. “Now they’ve gone to the private sector. Where’s the burden the government took?”
