The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has claimed that while recent reports of pirates operating in Maldivian waters are unsubstantiated, the government is concerned about pirates operating off the Somali coast west of the Maldives.
Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed said the government is keeping in touch “with the Indians and the Americans to enhance maritime security.”
“For now, Somali pirates are operating as far as the Seychelles, but not in the Maldives.”
Dr Shaheed said the government was taking “pre-emptive and preventive measures” to ensure the safety of the country.
State Minister of Defence Muiz Adnan said although there have not been recent reports of pirates operating in Maldivian waters, “this is a concern for everybody. A lot of pirates operate out of Somali waters.”
Adnan said the coast guard conducts regular sea and air patrols and also regularly schedules joint patrols with the Indian army, although “not only concerning piracy.”
He said if any pirate vessels are seen in Maldivian waters, “we will take the necessary measures to apprehend them.”
President of the Fishermen’s Union Ibrahim Manik said he had heard no reports of fishermen sighting any pirate vessels in Maldivian waters, but said that sometimes they saw foreign vessels illegally doing long-line fishing.
Manik said if fishermen saw any illegal vessels, they would “definitely cooperate with the government. We are fighting against this,” he said, but added that “we are not very concerned. We are stronger than that.”
Male’ Municipality has closed 14 public water taps across the city, leaving only four taps available.
Deputy Head of the Municipality Mohamed Arif said the taps were closed because the council had received many complaints about the taps, which were “not being used by Maldivians.”
”Most of the water is used by expats, for car washing and a very few poor locals,” Arif said. ”We have done surveys to check who has been using the water taps.”
Arif said the water taps cost the municipality Rf3.5 million (US$270,000) last year.
He said the water taps were established intending to help the poor locals who could not afford to pay the water bill.
”Our records show that only 10 per-cent of the people using the water taps were Maldivians,” he said.
”We receive many complaints from Ameer Ahmed School that people throw water at the students,” he said. ”We also have many complaints from people that they are having difficulties due to water spilt near the taps.”
Press Secretary for the president Mohamed Zuhair also said that the taps were used mainly by expats and for washing cars.
Vice president of Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party DRP Umar Naseer said that he was concerned about the issue as “a lot of people are unable to afford their water bill.”
”That’s why they stay in the queue for hours, ” he said. ”Closing the water taps is like drinking the blood of the people.”
Most people could not afford to drink bottled mineral water all the time, he noted.
Many well-known companies in the airport management business have shown interest in investing in and managing Malé International Airport according to Invest Maldives, reports Miadhu.
Some of the other interested parties include Turkish company TAV Airports Holding Company, Aéroports de Paris Management Company of France, and two joint bids by Mexican government-owned Aeropuertos Y Servicios Auxiliares in partnership with Reliance Infrastructure of India, and Indian company GVK Airport Developers Ltd in partnership with Swiss Flughafen Zurich AG.
The winning bid will be chosen by a special evaluation committee. Experts have said the company who wins the bid will have to spend millions of dollars to redevelop, upgrade and manage the airport.
Malé International Airport is being offered for investment as part of the government’s decentralisation plan, but critics have said the airport is one of the few government owned ventures that makes a profit.
Lightning struck the l, lightning struck the 300 ft tall Wataniya antennae on the Island.
The island of Hirikandhu in Thaa Atoll suffered and estimated Rf384,000 (US$30,000) in electrical damages when a lightning bolt struck Wataniya antennae early on Saturday morning.
Councilor of Hirilandhu Mohamed Shakeeb said the lightning struck the 300 foot antennae around 4:00am in the morning.
”It was raining heavily and it was thundering non stop that night,” Shakeeb said. ”We switched off the generators providing electricity to the island at 3:00am, because they were having problems probably due to the rain.”
Shakeeb said there was no electricity on the island at all when the lightning hit.
”There was a electric line visible that night traveling across the Dhiraagu antennae and Wataniya antennae,” he said.
”All the televisions and computers which were plugged in to the sockets were damaged, cable TV lines were damaged and two channel lines at the power house were also damaged,” he said.
Communication over mobile phone and land lines run by both Dhiraagu and Wataniya were also down.
”We started receiving connection for mobile phones that afternoon and land line services last night,” Shakeeb said.
He said that last time lightning hit the island was 20 years ago “but there was no antennae there, only palm trees.”
Public Relations and Communication manager of Wataniya Niushad Shareef had not responded to Minivan News at time of press.
Maldives and Timor-Leste will be launching the “Asian Initiative on Climate Change,” reports Miadhu.
The world’s largest growing economies and most populous countries are in Asia, and both the governments of the Maldives and Timor-Leste believe if Asia takes immediate action against climate change, other regions in the world will follow.
The Maldives was part of the recent Progressive Group meeting, held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia last week.
The Progressive Group is formed by countries wanting to reach a legally binding agreement at the next UNFCCC climate change summit in Mexico later this year.
The group will hold a second meeting before COP16 in Malé this July.
Kudakudhinge Hiya, a temporary shelter for children in Vilingili managed by the Ministry of Health and Family, has been short-staffed “for months,” says Community Health Officer Iyaz Jadulla Naseem.
Iyaz has said he is “very concerned” over the staff shortage in the shelter. “There is a lack of staff,” Iyaz said, “and in the current structure, cooks and labourers’ jobs have been removed from the civil service.”
“We asked the Civil Service Commission (CSC) for a new cook, but they said they can’t send another person because these jobs have been removed [from the civil service].”
Iyaz added that the children’s home is being “treated like a government office,” and the commission has said that a government office has no need for a cook.
“We are not a government office,” Iyaz said, “but this is how they deal with us.”
The home, which has a capacity for 45 children, is currently catering for 51.
They had four registered cooks, but one resigned recently. “Another cook is on leave, so we only have two cooks right now,” Iyaz said.
The cooking shifts are shared, he explained, “but we still have to cook three times a day for the children. Imagine one person cooking for 51 children.”
“Three days ago there was no one to cook the morning shift,” Iyaz said, “so we had to call the afternoon cook to come in the morning as well.”
A lack of chefs is affecting the health of children at Vilingili Orphanage says health worker
He said this “lowers the quality of the food, and one person cannot concentrate for that long.”
Additionally, it means there is only one menu being prepared for all the children.
“We have five month-old babies and ten year-old children eating the same food. We need at least three or four cooks,” Iyaz said.
He said the Human Rights Commission Maldives (HRCM) had said they would go to the CSC to deal with the issue urgently.
Staff at Kudakudhinge Hiya have also spoken to the Ministry of Health and Family, who are “cooperating,” and Iyaz noted that Deputy Minister Mariya Ali “has been very helpful. But they can’t help until the CSC creates these jobs again.”
There had also been reports of several of the children being sick and sent to Indhira Ghandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH). “It wasn’t a big outbreak,” Iyaz said, “some vomiting and diarrhoea.”
He said twelve children were sick and “the Food and Drug authority came here to see see if it was food poisoning, but they didn’t think so because only a few children were affected.”
He added the doctors said it was a viral infection.
“Two of the children were admitted to IGMH,” he said, “and one child is still feeling weak but she’s getting better.”
Iyaz said the home is taking the issues to their superiors.
Recently appointed Director of the home confirmed there are four registered cooks, “but one resigned and one is on leave.”
“It is very difficult for one person to cook for all the children,” he said, noting that they are “trying our best and have reported to the Gender Department.”
A child plays with a toy at Vilingili orphanage
Government response
Deputy Minister of Health and Family Mariya Ali said the biggest problem at Kudakudhinge Hiya is “they don’t have enough staff.”
She said the ministry have recently hired staff and is communicating with the CSC to provide them with new cooks. They are also trying to bring back volunteers.
Mariya said although volunteers had not been able to go for a couple of months, the volunteer programme “is back on track.” She noted that “we have received help from a number of corporate sectors.”
She said the ministry had been trying to pass laws based on guidelines and regulations for children’s homes since 2007, “but they have just been going back and forth from the Attorney General’s office.”
“The costing for regulations to be implemented is being processed,” Mariya explained, noting that the regulations would include clauses on staff to child ratios, staff standards and etiquette, visitation procedures, and general criteria for the institution.
“We will send the guidelines to the AG this week,” she said, “then they will be sent to Parliament. It is very important to maintain children’s homes at a high standard.”
Mariya said that the most important thing was to reduce numbers in children’s homes and improve the criteria of admission.
She added that the Ministry of Health and Family is waiting to sign an MoU with English charity for children, Barnardo’s, for staff “to go to England to learn how to manage children’s institutions.”
Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said the government’s plan to restructure the civil service meant there are new considerations for hiring a cook, as there were over 150 cooks in the civil service.
Zuhair said several ministries had been employing cooks and some offices in the health sector, for instance, would have a cook but not a nurse.
“But this is a special area,” he said, “there are special considerations. I’m sure the government will give special consideration to this case.”
A well-known activist of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Hussein Ilham of Happy Side in Galolhu, and his brother Abdulla Irushad, have been sentenced for contempt of court by Judge Aisha Shujoon Mohamed.
Ilham was sentenced for three months while his brother received one month under Article 88(a) of the Penal Code for disrespecting the court.
The judge said that Hussein Ilham and Abdulla Irushad disrespected the court during an ongoing case involving real estate, and that there were people who had entered the court without being presented.
The verdict does not mention whether they both interrupted or if they were presented to the court.
Chairperson for MDP Mariya Ahmed Didi did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.
Vice president of opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Umar Naseer said that he was not surprised to hear that an MDP activist was sentenced.
”I am surprised to hear that they have been free all this time,” Umar said.
He said the judicial system was a very independent system and claimed ”MDP is trying to hijack it.”
He also accused all MDP members of”drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana.”
Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said he was sorry to hear the news, but said he did not believe that it would bring the party’s reputation into disrepute.
”The judiciary system needs to be reformed,” he said, ”it needs more qualified and disciplined judges.”
Naeem claimed that former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, together with many of his cabinet ministers and several members of the current government, had failed to declare details of their financial assets as required by the Constitution.
Deputy Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem said the cases was returned to the Auditor General’s Office “because they were not investigated sufficiently.”
Shameem said they should have been “properly investigated” by the Auditor General’s Office before being sent to the PG’s Office.
“People who were named in this report were not asked to submit their forms,” Shameem said. “[In addition] they were not informed about the criminal charges. It is unfair they had to hear about it from the media.”
He said the PG’s Office believed “they should be given an opportunity” to declare their assets and to further investigate the claims.
He added that the cases have not been dropped by his office, and “if they are sent back, we will proceed.”
Assistant Executive Director and interim head of the Auditor General’s office Mohamed Hussein said he could not give any information about the case.
Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said the former Auditor General “did not make up this case on his own or without collecting information. He would have sent these cases to the PG after working with a team.”
Zuhair said parliament’s no-confidence decision on Naeem did not mean that the whole Audit office was corrupt.
When Fathimath Sudhuna checked into ADK hospital last Friday feeling faint and dizzy, she did not expect it would cause her condition to worsen.
She was asked by a doctor to complete two medical tests: a sugar test and a cholesterol test. Her husband, Ibrahim Shaukath, took her to the hospital pathology for the tests and was asked to wait outside.
“It took a long time for her to come out – I had to ask the nurse why it was taking so long,” Shaukath said.
When she came out he asked her why it had taken so long: she replied that a nurse had given her the wrong injection.
“It was an injection that was supposed to be given to a 15 year old patient,” he said.
Fathimath’s condition deteriorated and she became unable to stand. Shaukath complained that the hospital’s management “did not take it seriously and tried to ignore it, saying it would be ‘all right’.”
”I am not saying this to harm the hospital,” he said. ”I just want to prevent it from happening to another person.”
Managing Director of ADK Hospital Ahmed Afaal said the incident had been reported and the hospital was investigating. He said he had no information about the patient’s condition worsening after the incident, and was reluctant to speak to the media.
IGMH blunder
A person assisting with a birth at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) last week told Minivan News on condition of anonymity that surgeons had sewn one of the mother’s veins into her skin after an emergency cesarean to remove the baby.
”[The mother] told the doctors that she felt pain in the sewed area,” the assistant said, ”but the doctors did not care to look, they just said it would be all right.”
Three days later, when the woman removed the dressings on the wound, she discovered a red lump underneath.
”She ran to the hospital counter and yelled at them,” the assistant said. ”They started treating her and she was told the doctors had sewn a vein into her skin and blood was stuck in there.”
Another woman who also asked to remain anonymous told Minivan News that a doctor at IGMH had told her husband that he was a heart patient with a high risk of heart attack, and had treated him as such for two months.
Eventually the family sent him to India for medical treatment, where they found out “he did not have any problem with his heart.”
Yet another woman, who identified herself as Zainab, told Minivan News that her son, who was very weak after an attempted suicide and a motorbike accident, was sent home after a single IV.
”We begged them to keep him until he felt better,” she said, ”but they said he would be all right and told us to leave.”
She claimed that her son could not even walk when he was discharged.
Chief Executive Officer of IGMH Zubair Mohamed confirmed such cases had recently been reported to the hospital management.
”We encourage all our patients to complain at the Health Ministry when they face such problems,” Zubair said.
Zubair said everyday 99 per-cent of the patients left with no complaints.
”Doctors and nurses sometimes makes mistakes,” he said.
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