Four Seasons launches local surf championship trophy

Local surfers will compete alongside six big international names during the Maldives Domestic Champions Trophy, to be hosted by the Four Seasons Kuda Huraa Resort from August 27 to September 2.

Last year’s title was won by veteran Australian surfer Mark ‘Occy’ Occhilupo, who will this year seek to defend his title from 1989 world champion Martin Potter, three times world champion Tom Curren, 2007 longboard world champion Phil Rajzman, two times world champion Damien Hardman and 2005 female world champion Chelsea Hedges.

The Maldivian Surfing Association (MSA) will meanwhile host a surfing competition to select local champions, who will then compete under the same world-class standards as the world champions with equal commentary, computer scoring and judging criteria.

The surfers will compete in four-man event heats to qualify for the final – a MVR 25,000 (US$1620) showdown for the title of Four Seasons Maldives Domestic Champions Trophy 2012.

Mark Winson, general manager of Tropicsurf – the event’s organiser – noted that “some of the best surfers in the lineup are locals, that’s for sure. Unlike other country’s surf scenes where the surfing community is very concentrated, here world class waves are scattered all across the country.”

“Some of the best surfers live a long way from Male’ and rarely get to see athletes like the six world champs featured this year. It will be great to see 20 of the country’s best surfers congregate at Thamburudhoo on the 27th for the MSA trials, eight of whom will surf in the Domestic Champions Trophy alongside the world champions.”

Tropicsurf’s Founder and Director, Ross Phillips, “was among the first to pioneer surfing in remote parts of the Maldives over 15 years ago with a dream of a locally driven sustainable surf movement in the country,” Winson noted.

“These days the MSA has grown and matured into a vibrant surfing association committed to developing the sport of surfing in the Maldives. We see the Domestic Champions Trophy as an opportunity not only for competition, but also to share some administrative components of event management with the MSA committee,” he said.

Intrepid surfers from around the world have become one of the core markets driving mid-market guest house tourism across the Maldives, and the country is becoming increasingly well known as an ‘undiscovered’ surfing destination – at least compared to famous beaches in places such as Hawaii, Indonesia, and Australia.

“The Maldives’ warm water, perfect waves and friendly people make it the ultimate destination for the travelling surfer,” observed Winson, asked to describe the country’s appeal.

“The Maldives is a surfer’s paradise, but a family paradise too. Non-surfers are catered to in every fashion imaginable and there is an accommodation option for everyone, ranging from luxury resorts such as Kuda Huraa to three star surf camps for the budget traveller. The waves are plentiful and varied to suit a wide range of abilities and craft. Here you’ll find your surfing nirvana!”

Winson added that the competition would showcase both the Maldives “and its world-class waves” – last year’s event was widely publicised in international surf media, due in large part to the participation of Occhilupo, Hardman, world longboard champion Josh Constable, four-time world champion Mark Richards, two-time world champion Nat Young, and seven-times female world champion Layne Beachley.

Occhilupo only narrowly defeated Beachley in the single fin division, after Beachley knocked out Hardman in the semi-final, and Occy defeated Constable.

Despite the camaraderie between the champions and the affable atmosphere aboard the nearby Four Seasons Explorer Catamaran, there was, Beachley told Minivan News, a very strong competitive undercurrent.

“When you’re surrounded by world champions there is a mutual respect because we know what it takes, but when we’re paddling out no one’s there to lose,” she said.

“It’s very competitive. No guy wants to lose to a girl. The boys are amped. Their pumped up, even if they’re pretending to play it down.”

The Four Seasons Maldives Domestic Champions Trophy will take place at Four Seasons Resort Kuda Huraa from August 27 to September 2, 2012, Four Seasons Maldives Domestic Champions Trophy will be held at Four Seasons Resort Kuda Huraa from August 27 to September 2, 2012, alongside the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy.

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Vice president’s party talks solely focused on resuming Majlis: President’s Office

Talks scheduled this week between senior parliamentary representatives and Vice President Mohamed Waheed Deen will be focused solely on trying to find a resolution to the ongoing suspension of the Majlis, the President’s Office has said.

However, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)  today accused government representatives of giving “conflicting” messages after contending that an agreement had been made for discussions to also focus on facilitating early elections to resolve the deadlock surrounding the controversial transfer of power on February 7.

Government Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza told Minivan News today that talks at the President’s Office scheduled for 11am on Tuesday August 14, were being held at the request of Parliamentary Speaker Abdulla Shahid following the suspension of the People’s Majlis late last month.

Abbas maintained that Tuesday’s talks would be focused solely on addressing parliament’s suspension rather than topics already agreed under the agenda of the all-party talks, which include issues such as early elections.

“This meeting is being held at request of the speaker as the various parties felt they needed to speak with the executive,” he claimed.

In a statement released today, the opposition MDP said the vice president had agreed to an offer to engage in dialogue to try and find what it called a way forward in the “current political crisis.”

“[President] Waheed’s government has assigned their Vice-President Mohamed Waheed Deen to participate in the talks agreed among leaders of political parties represented in parliament,” the statement read.

Speaker Shahid opted to suspend parliament “indefinitely” on July 31 after claiming that “an atmosphere of calm necessary to conduct sittings could not be assured” following confrontations between MPs in the Majlis chamber.  Several sittings had been cancelled owing to disorder in the lead-up to the suspension amidst reports of MDP MPs confronting the speaker.

On Thursday (August 9), the now opposition Maldivian Democratic Party said that a date to resume parliamentary sessions was “yet to emerge”, though claimed it was confident discussions were on the right track.

MDP spokesperson and MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor today claimed that the severity of the speaker’s decision to suspend parliament last month had effectively seen the country come to a political standstill.

“The party made it very clear at the time in a statement that we would not be cooperating with the Majlis unless we were able to address our grievances,” he said.

Ghafoor added that Tuesday’s talks between key parliamentary figures and the vice president would be aimed at addressing the issue of hosting early elections before those presently scheduled by the Waheed administration for July 2013.

Responding to President’s Office claims that only the issue of parliament’s suspension would be focused on in the talks, Ghafoor alleged that the party was continuing to receive inconsistent responses from the government.

“Right from the start of this process we have seen the government giving us conflicting messages,” he said. “We have chosen to ignore these contradictions for practical purposes.”

As such, the MDP claimed that its representative at the talks – MP Ali Waheed – would look to discuss issues including facilitating early elections.

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World famous eco-resort embroiled in local politics

The Soneva Group has composed a statement in response to allegations published in the UK media, that the head of the upmarket resort company, Sonu Shivdasani, had engaged a PR firm to “spruce up” the image of Dr Mohamed Waheed’s government.

The company’s flagship resort, Soneva Fushi in Baa Atoll, is known for its ecological innovation. It hosts the annual ‘Slow Life Symposium’, drawing environmental luminaries from around the world – including, last October, former President Mohamed Nasheed.

However, “No fan of [former President] Nasheed’s tax proposals, Sonu was keen to help the new administration spruce up its image,” alleged a recent column in the the UK’s Private Eye magazine.

The article contended that post February 7, an “unlikely alliance” had emerged between certain resorts – desperate to stabilise the sudden political instability for the sake of their bottom lines – and the new government, a loose alliance of ambitious political elements who came to power on a platform of Islamic conservatism.

“The reality is that the Maldives – already favoured by footballers, Russian gangsters and off-duty Israeli arms dealers – are an even harder sell since the coup has given us an unlikely alliance between hoteliers promoting bikini-clad, cocktail-fuelled luxury and a government that includes two imams, wants to bring back the death penalty and has done nothing about the destruction by supporters of the coup of the national museum’s entire pre-Islamic collection,” the article stated.

The article alleged that “in April [Shivdasani] e-mailed Britain’s well known PR guru Matthew Freud, saying: ‘I just spoke to President Waheed. He is happy to engage your services (for tourism PR) on a barter basis whereby Reethi Rah and Soneva Fushi would offer accommodation at our resorts in lieu of the barter. Did you manage to speak to Alan Leibman from One and Only?’” the column stated.

“Freud initially appeared thrilled at the prospect of free holidays: ’We greatly look forward to working with you and the president,’” it stated, apparently having obtained the relevant correspondence between the pair.

“But by the time President Waheed had got in on the act later in the month, writing to Freud: ‘We had discussed along with Sonu that a contract will be signed first among SixSenses, One and Only and Matthew to assist us with tourism promotion in the UK. Matthew will send us an outline a proposed activities as discussed’ – the legendary PR guru had developed cold feet: ‘I am sorry that the adverse political climate prevents us from being more directly involved but going to a doctor who will make you sicker is rarely a good idea.’”

In a counter statement from the group, obtained by Minivan News, the company sought to clarify the “facts” of the case.

“Sonu Shivdasani does not have a political relationship with President Mohamed Waheed, their interaction revolves specifically around environmental and ecological issues,” the Soneva statement read.

“In addition to former President Mohammed Nasheed, President Mohamed Waheed demonstrated an active level of support and interest in Soneva Fushi’s sustainable practices during his vice presidency.  He attended both the 2010 and 2011 SLOWLIFE Symposia at Soneva Fushi.

“President Mohamed Waheed’s interest in environmental issues has remained consistent; it is on these grounds and issues that he and Sonu Shivdasani have interacted since his assumption to the Presidency.”

The company claimed that the discussion between Freud PR and President Waheed had concerned the PR firm’s Director, Arlo Brady, “who is associated with the Blue Marine Foundation.”

“The discussions focused on creating the World’s largest Marine Reserve in the country and other environment initiatives. I offered Freud PR complimentary accommodation at Soneva Fushi in return for their support of the government with this campaign and other environment initiatives in the country that were discussed,” the Soneva statement read.

A source within the Soneva Group described the situation as “a bloody mess”.

Shivdasani “completely fell for Waheed’s line that Nasheed didn’t resign under duress” and had – unsuccessfully – asked a number of PR agencies to set up interviews for the new President, Minivan News was informed.

The source surmised that Shivdasani had “innocently, stupidly, somehow believed Waheed”, and “gone out of his way to help [the new President].”

Soneva’s statement meanwhile disputed the resort’s motivation to support the new government based on supposed plans to amend a corporate tax bill implemented by Nasheed, as, “to the best of my knowledge, there are no plans by the current President Mohamed Waheed to reduce or eliminate this tax.”

Following the controversial transfer of power the Maldives now faces spiralling budget deficit of 27 percent, an ongoing foreign currency shortage, plummeting investor confidence, spiraling expenditure, and a drop off in foreign aid.

A proposal by the Finance Ministry last week to curb impending economic crisis included raising the tourism goods and services tax (TGST) to 15 percent, among other measures. Several resort managers told Minivan News earlier this year that a sudden TGST increase would have to be taken out their margins due to contractual commitments with tour operators, following the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s demand that this be raised to 12 percent.

“To the best of my knowledge, President Mohamed Nasheed did not have plans to raise further taxes from resorts in the Maldives,” the Soneva statement read.

“There were discussions about taxes being introduced on other industries in the Maldives as well as the introduction of an income tax on Maldivian nationals. Neither of these would impact Soneva or I as we are not involved in other businesses in the Maldives,” it added.

Soured relationships

Sonenva Fushi’s Slow Life Symposium in October attracted an array of high profile business, media and environmental figures including Virgin head Richard Branson, actress Daryl Hannah, star of films including ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Kill Bill’ and ‘Splash’; Ed Norton, star of films including ‘Fight Club’ and ‘American History X’; Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project; Mike Mason, founder of Climate Care, one of the world’s first carbon trading companies; and British author, journalist and environmental activist Mark Lynas.

Branson waded into Maldivian politics on his blog on February 24, calling on President Waheed to “do the right thing” and hold free and fair elections before the end of the year.

It was, Branson wrote to Dr Waheed, “completely astounding that you have been part of an overthrow of a democratically elected government that has effectively let the old regime back into power.”

“Knowing you, I would assume that you were given no choice and that it was through threats that you have ended up in this position,” Branson said. “I do very much hope that was the case rather than you doing it of your own free will.”

Days later, Branson wrote another entry, saying that he had spoken on the phone to Dr Waheed, who told him he had appointed “a respected person” to examine the truth of what caused President Nasheed to “resign”.

“He says that he didn’t know who issued an arrest warrant for President Nasheed after he left office but that it had been rescinded within 48 hours. He is determined to be an honest broker, to be seen to be one, and to get everyone’s confidence. He said that he offered to bring in people from President Nasheed’s party but they refused to join.

“He also pointed out that President Nasheed’s party had been a minority party and had only been in power due to the support of others. It would be for those others, and the electorate to decide who rules in the future. He ended by pledging elections in July of next year – in line with the constitution – once confidence has been restored,” Branson wrote.

“Based on his personal reputation I believe he’s sincere in wanting to do what’s right for the country and return it to a true and lasting democracy.”

A few days later, Branson wrote a third post, resuming his first call “for early elections “as soon as feasibly possible”.

“Having listened to both sides, it does seem wise for an election to take place as soon as is feasibly possible so that the people of the Maldives can begin to put this ugly chapter behind them,” Branson wrote.

Lynas – another Slow Life participant who also worked as Nasheed’s Climate Advisor – was quick to condemn Dr Waheed’s new government, claiming that his “lack of democratic legitimacy” had lost the Maldives’ its voice at international climate negotiations.

“Waheed and his representatives have no moral authority because they were not elected, have strong connections with corrupt and violent elements of the former dictatorship, and took power in the dubious circumstances of a police coup,” Lynas argued.

“The Maldives has lost many years of work already – it has little credibility left with donors or international investors. Investors and donors alike are looking for stability and strong governance – and they will not get either of those whilst the political system is essentially deadlocked between competing parties, with regular protests and ensuing police violence.

“In climate terms the Maldives is well on its way to becoming a failed state – I see no prospect of it achieving Nasheed’s 2020 carbon neutral goal, even if that goal is still official policy,” Lynas said.

“I think time has basically run out now – unless there are early elections quickly and a legitimate government re-established there is no real prospect of resurrecting the Maldives’ leadership on climate change.”

Yet another Slow Life participant, Mike Mason, who worked pro bono as Nasheed’s Energy Advisor, resigned following Nasheed’s ousting despite being asked by Waheed to remain.

“I don’t think Dr Waheed is a bad man – actually I like him a lot personally,” he wrote, in an email to an official in the Trade Ministry obtained by Minivan News.

“However, he has done nothing to assure me that this is really a democratic process. Rather, my intelligence tells me this is a Gayoom inspired coup with Dr Waheed as an unfortunate puppet.

“Even if I did work with Waheed, I couldn’t deliver the plan now [because of falling] investor confidence,” he subsequently told Minivan News. “[The perpetrators] have destroyed US$2-3 billion worth of investment and condemned the country to an unstable economic future based upon diesel.”

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MDP denies involvement in Hulhumale’ demonstration against VP, pledges commitment to talks

The Maldvian Democratic Party (MDP) said it remains committed to ceasing street demonstrations in order to facilitate talks with government-aligned parties, playing down fears that protests by a number of “individuals” against the vice-president on Thursday could derail negotiations.

MDP spokesperson and MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor claimed today that the party had not been behind demonstrations held Thursday (August 9) on the island of Hulhumale’ during a visit by Vice President Mohamed Waheed Deen. Ghafoor added that there had been no official communication from the government so far following these demonstrations with regard to stopping talks between the country’s political leaders.

Since the controversial transfer of power that brought President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan into office on February 7, former President Mohamed Nasheed has alleged he was removed from office in a “coup d’etat”. The allegations have lead to months of political uncertainty across the nation, resulting last month in the indefinite suspension of parliament.

Less then 24 hours after welcoming the MDP’s decision to suspend ongoing street protests against the government to “facilitate meaningful political dialogue” with the coalition government, the President’s Office yesterday told local media it might reconsider participation in talks following demonstrations held Thursday (August 9) in Hulhumale’.

President’s Office spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza was quoted by the Sun Online news service as saying that the government’s decision to participate in fresh talks had “to be reconsidered”, alleging the MDP had been directly involved in the protests that reportedly saw offensive language used against the vice president.

Both Abbas and President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad were not responding at time of press.

Thursday’s demonstrations were directly targeted at a visit by Vice President Deen, who was in Hulhumale’ to attend the opening ceremony of the State Trading Organisation (STO)’s new futsal field.

Police spokesman Hassan Haneef told Minivan News today that eight people had been arrested in relation to the incident, with seven having been released at the time of press. Haneef said that the suspect’s had been arrested over charges including blocking the vice-president’s car, and “disobeying and disturbing” police as they performed their legal duties.

However, MDP MP Ghafoor claimed that the party had not been involved in organising demonstrations against the vice president, contending that the reaction of Abbas in local media had been a “knee-jerk response to a minor incident”.

“I have read comments about this in the media, but we have not heard anything official from the government on [stopping talks],” he said. “It appears that a sporadic incident has been used as an excuse by some to criticise us because of a couple of angry activists. We have stopped our street demonstrations as we promised, but individuals will still get upset in the current political environment.”

Ghafoor added that he believed it was unlikely that the actions of independent demonstrators would set back wider-efforts to attempt to find a resolution the present impasse between the MDP and government-aligned parties.

“This is not a culture we have had before 2008, but people are now free to come out and speak their mind about concerns they have,” he said. “This just appears to be people being over-sensitive regarding minor incidents.”

Demonstration concerns

The unity government’s insistence on an end to the MDP’s continued demonstrations before discussions could resume had been outlined in the agenda of the all-party roadmap talks. Of a six point agenda agreed upon by participants, public order and stability were one of the first points to be addressed.

However, during the most recent round of all-party talks in June, the list of demands presented to the MDP by government-aligned groups were claimed to be lacking in seriousness. The 30-point list presented to the opposition party included demands to desist from using “black magic” and “erotic tools” as well as walking in groups of more than ten.

Since that time, the MDP has continued regular demonstrations, particularly in the capital Male’, where consecutive nights of protests in July resulted in violent clashes between protesters, security forces and journalists.

The immediate aim of inter-party discussions, however, would be to agree upon an arrangement which might allow the reopening of the People’s Majlis, which was suspended last month after angry confrontations between opposing MPs and the Speaker of the House.

The Speaker Abdulla Shahid invoked his authority to suspend sessions indefinitely if he felt dialogue between party leaders was necessary to restore calm to proceedings. Government-aligned parties have been critical of the role they allege MDP MPs played in stymieing the work of the People’s Majlis.

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MDP to mark ‘Black Friday’ anniversary

The former ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has announced that it will mark the eighth anniversary of ‘Black Friday’ August 13, 2004 with a special rally and photo exhibition on Monday night.

The spontaneous gathering of the public at the Republic Square on August 12 and 13, 2004 against the regime of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was a watershed event in Maldivian history.

The unprecedented 22-hour pro-democracy demonstration was quashed in a brutal crackdown on the afternoon of August 13 by the former National Security Service (NSS).

Shortly after the crackdown and arrest of scores of demonstrators, President Gayoom declared a state of emergency, which lasted two months.

In August 2005, then-Chairperson of MDP, former President Mohamed Nasheed, was arrested on the first anniversary of Black Friday during a vigil at the Republic Square.

According to the party website, the rally planned for Monday night to mark the anniversary will feature a video presentation about torture.

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Hassan Saeed assesses six months of Waheed’s presidency

“Any attempt to review Dr Waheed’s half year in the presidency should bear in mind the challenges he faced and the past behaviours of his predecessor that he avoided adopting himself. Only thereafter will we be able to fully assess any material advances his presidency brought,” writes President Waheed’s Special Advisor and leader of the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), Dr Hassan Saeed for Haveeru.

“Dr Waheed was called in to office in a most unusual manner. The day after he took the oath of office, his predecessor claimed that he had resigned at gunpoint.

To anyone who was not aware of the character of the people involved, this chain of events might not sound like a normal governmental transition.

Perhaps understandably, some international organizations were soon demanding answers to why this change had happened with some people in them questioning the legitimacy of his rule. I’m sure everyone will recall attitudes in the international community shifted back and forth over those early weeks.

As a small country, the Maldives relations with its neighbours and with international institutions are vitally important. Clearly as a result of this a significant percentage of Dr. Waheed’s time was spent on addressing the concerns raised. This work has in recent months stabilized with the establishment of the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI).

CoNI was not just established to respond to international opinion, but also to demonstrate that the Government could be transparent to its own people. Having set this up in the most professional and impartial manner, one would have hoped that the natural reaction from all sides of the argument would have been to wait for its outcome.

However that was not to be the case. Nasheed and his supporters have been out on the streets creating havoc and committing crimes. Security forces have had to spend a lot of time attending to these activities at a time when  the public has  been demanding the government does more in addressing crime and punishing criminals in response to recent high profile cases of murder.”

Read more.

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Police cannot order MDP to vacate Usfasgandu, Civil Court rules

The Maldives Police Service does not have legal authority to order the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to vacate its ‘Usfasgandu’ protest camp on May 29, the Civil Court ruled today.

On May 29, police raided Usfasgandu with a search warrant from the Criminal Court and ordered the MDP to vacate the area before 10pm, after which the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) began dismantling the protest camp.

The Civil Court however issued an injunction ordering the security forces to halt the dismantling after the MDP challenged the legality of the operation. The injunction was to stand until the court reached a verdict and was later upheld by the High Court.

Police had obtained a warrant to search Usfasgandu on the grounds that the MDP was using the area as a hub for criminal activity and black magic.

Police alleged that people in the Usfasgandu area verbally abused police officers and damaged a police vehicle on April 20, obstructed a Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) exercise on May 9, and that, on May 25 “MDP protesters threw a cursed rooster at MNDF officers.”

MDP lawyers however argued at court that the warrant did not provide a legal basis to dismantle the demonstration area.

Following the dismantling of the MDP’s protest camp at the tsunami memorial area on March 19, the Male’ City Council (MCC) leased the Usfasgandu area to the former ruling party for three months, prompting repeated attempts by the government to reclaim the area.

The MCC – which has nine MDP councillors and two government-aligned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) councillors – however refused to hand over the area to the Housing Ministry despite a cabinet decision authorising the Housing Ministry to reclaim the plot.

In its verdict today, the Civil Court noted that legal dispute between the MCC and Housing over guardianship of the Usfasgandu area could only be settled once the Civil Court reached a verdict on a separate case filed by the ministry requesting the MCC be ordered to hand over the plot.

As the MDP had a legally binding agreement with the MCC for use of the area, Judge Hathif Hilmy ruled that police could not infringe on the rights of the MDP as it was not party to the dispute between the MCC and the Housing Ministry.

Police therefore could not enforce the position of one party in a civil dispute without a court order as such an action would violate the constitutional rights of administrative fairness and equality (articles 17 and 20) of the other party.

Moreover, police could not infringe on the MDP’s right to use the leased land during its investigation of alleged criminal activity, Judge Hathif Hilmy ruled.

The Civil Court ruling today invalidated the police letter on May 29 ordering the MDP to vacate Usfasgandu or face confiscation of property.

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Algerian businessman donates MVR3.1million to mosque fund

Islamic Minister Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has today told Sun Online that an Algerian businessman has decided to donate MVR3.1 million ($US200,000) to the mosque fund after visiting Male’ as a tourist.

The Minister explained that this donation would cover the cost of 20 percent of the building currently under construction for the Waqf fund, with the Islamic Bank paying for the remaining 80 percent.

Sun reported that the fund, which was started to provide financial assistance to mosques, has thus far received MVR15 million (US$974,000) in donations. Nearly one third of this is said to have been spent on the renovation of mosques.

Shaheem also said that he believed the fund would receive more donations at the upcoming Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) conference in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

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ADK says co-payment will be available from next week

ADK hospital has announced that it will take co-payment from next week after the government decided to charge a co-payment from the national health insurance scheme, Aasandha, from private hospitals and clinics.

The company had previously stated that such services would be available from August 1.

The hospital’s Managing Director, Ahmed Afaal, told Haveeru today that, whilst negotiations with the government regarding collection of the payment were ongoing, the price of services at the hospital would not change.

The Aasandha company has said that that agreements for co-payment has been reached with eight other clinics although it has yet to release a price list, reported Haveeru. Over 60 private healthcare providers have applied for Aasandha coverage.

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