Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem has stated that 26 specialist doctors will arrive in the Maldives from Cuba in May to solve the issue of the shortage of doctors in the country. He made the remarks while responding to questions at the Parliament of the Maldives regarding the government’s work to solve the issues in the health sector.
At the Parliament, Minister Naseem said the biggest issue in the health sector is the lack of doctors, which became more severe after many of them left the country following the COVID-19 pandemic. The minister noted the difficulty in finding doctors in the region and said the government is working on recruiting an adequate number of doctors, health workers, and mobilising resources.
As such, Minister Naseem said 26 specialist doctors were recruited from Cuba as part of the work to fill the gap left by doctors that had left the country. He also assured that the development and renovations of health centres in the atolls and the mobilisation of resources allocated in the state budget will begin this year.
Additionally, the Ministry of Higher Education opened the opportunity to apply for fully-funded Medical Doctors Specialisation scholarships in March, to train specialists needed in hospitals across the country. A total of 15 scholarship opportunities were opened, including 10 slots for a master's degree and five slots for a doctoral degree.