Cleaning community and public places part of Maldives culture: Vice President

Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed has inaugurated a cleaning programme for the Male’ swimming tracks, in conjunction with the Swimming Association of the Maldives and the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports and o clean Malé swimming area.

Opening the programme yesterday, Dr Waheed said that cleaning the community and public places was part of the Maldives’ history and culture, and that development should not mean abandoning such activities.

Several doctors raised concerns in May about potential contamination of the water in the swimming tracks.

Dr Abdul Azeez Yousuf from Malé Health Services Corporation said pollution in the water was a concern, since it is “a question of considerable contamination” and added there is “not an easy solution” to the problem.

The biggest problem, Dr Yousuf said, are all the boats in the harbour. “They don’t have proper sewerage disposal,” he told Minivan News at the time. “It goes straight into the sea.”

Medical doctor at the Central Clinic in Malé, Dr Ahmed Razee, said he has treated cases of gastro-enteritis caused by infections from the water.

“I am able to say very emphatically that yes, people can develop gastro-enteritis from swimming in Malé lagoon,” Dr Razee said.

He noted that “theoretically, the possibility [of getting gastro-enteritis] is very much real,” and “in medicine what we say is if something is possible, it will happen.”

But he added that “as far as the local population is concerned, and people who are continuing to go swimming, even if there was an infection, they would probably all have immunity to it, most of the common organisms.”

Dr Razee said the more “ominous thing is the presence of typhoid in the water and enteric organisms.” He said although enteric typhoid has been almost “wiped out” in Malé, “we do see some sporadic cases.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)