Despite major strides in the health care industry during the past decade, Maldives still needs to put much effort into ensuring quality health care in the archipelago, health minister Abdulla Nazim said Wednesday.
Speaking at the inauguration of a Quality and Safety Symposium organised at the Bandos Island Resort by privately run ADK Hospital, the Minister noted the vast improvements in the Maldivian health sector over the past decade. He also spoke on the importance of further improving the heath sector and providing a high tier quality service to the patients.
At the two day symposium where numerous doctors and other officials in the health industry will be in attendance, the Minister stated that even though the Maldivian health sector had started with limited resources, Maldives had still managed to make great improvements over a very short period of time.
"The Maldivian health industry is not the same as it was before. Previously, only the government was responsible for providing medical service. However, private parties started entering the field, starting new services with new facilities which resulted in a revolutionary step forward for the health sector. One such example is ADK Hospital, which had achieved the title of being the only tertiary hospital in the Maldives within a short amount of time," minister explained.
The minister noted that even though heart diseases as well as numerous other diseases can now be cured in the Maldives, there are many doorways still to be opened within the Maldivian health sector. He further said that much work still needed to be done to ensure the preservation of the quality of service provided to patients.
"Numerous people travel abroad for treatment, spending a lot of money abroad in the process. This is not because the treatments are unavailable in the Maldives. This is the reason why we must ensure the quality and safety of our healthcare service. The government has recently established a health care quality standard as well, and have started training people as part of the effort," Nazim said.
Australian medical experts will be teaching the Maldivian healthcare staff how to ensure that the service provided to patients is safe and of a higher quality during the symposium.
