Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem has announced dialysis services will be arranged in all hospitals by the end of the year. He made the statement while responding to questions at the Parliament of the Maldives.
Answering questions posed by parliamentarians, Health Minister Naseem said dialysis services will begin in three hospitals across the country within the next two months. They are atoll hospitals in Naifaru, Lhaviyani Atoll, Eydhafushi, Baa Atoll, and Funadhoo, Shaviyani Atoll. The health minister added dialysis services will also begin this year in all the hospitals which do not currently provide the service.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health show the number of kidney diseases in the Maldives is increasing gradually. In this regard, there are more than 150 dialysis patients in the Greater Male' Region alone. Therefore, the government has been working on expanding the kidney treatment system across the Maldives. As such, a National Urology Renal and Fertility Centre (NU-RF) was established in Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) to treat kidney diseases.