The government has launched it’s ‘doctor for each family’ program by providing a doctor for every 2,500 people at the Villimalé Health Center (VHC).
Registration for the program was opened today for anyone who has been living on the island for at least three months. The deadline for registration is 8 March 2012.
The program is one of President Abdulla Yameen’s campaign pledges and also part of the government’s roadmap for the first hundred days which will be reached next week.
Ahmed Zahir, Director at Villimalé Health Center said that through the program a general practitioner, a community health officer, and two nurses will be dedicated to serve each 2,500 people group.
“Through the registration process we will collect information on everyone’s medical history, so their dedicated doctor will be familiar with it. Their [dedicated] doctors will see them and forward the cases to specialist doctors if there is a need,” he explained.
“They will also attend patients who are unable to come to the center in their homes,” he added, noting that in case of emergencies patients could see any doctor they wanted.
Zahir said that after collecting information from Villimalé residents, the center will also do any further tests required.
“The teams will make routine visits as scheduled, and will also be active if there is an epidemic of any sort.”
The schedule for doctor’s visits is yet to be formulated. Currently five doctors have been selected for the programme, and more doctors will be employed after the registration process is completed.
Zahir said that the VHC will be opening a State Trading Organization (STO) pharmacy within three weeks, though no progress has been made on the hundred day pledge of turning the VHC into a hospital.
Other hundred-days pledges of the government included introducing tertiary hospital services in the atolls, improving regional hospitals, establishing cancer and kidney disease treatment facilities, expanding dialysis services to more centers, and introducing mental health care services.
Last month free cervical cancer screening services were introduced at DhamanaVeshi, though the service is yet to be introduced at Hulhumalé hospital as promised.
The pledge to reform doctors’ pay structure was set to be implemented before being suspended by the president after criticism for the reduction of take-home salaries by MVR10,000 (US$648).
The Ministry of Health and Gender had also pledged to improve the social health insurance system and to increase the number of local doctors working at state health centers.
Building safe houses for women, children, and persons with disabilities on four islands, introducing free public transport for the elderly, providing services of a clinical psychologist for victims of abuse, reducing the negative of divorce on families, and working towards creating a drugs free society was also part of the hundred-day pledges.
So, if Yaagundaa thinks each 'family' is composed of 2500 people, imagine how many bastard children he must have sired while hiding abroad.
Yeah, and Shakeela and Health Ministry!!! What a joke! Just that her husband spent in millions to topple Nasheed. does not mean she would ever be capable of "hingaa" the Health Ministry.
tell me a country where they have a doctor for each citizen.
Yameen had said that he will have a doctor for each family and it does not mean that each family one doctor exclusive.
Nasheed and his gangs will find it hard to digest but the truth is that now at least this will help to improve the health sector in Maldives having a designated doctor for each family.
Even so called developed countries like UK are also having similar kind of procedure . But in UK uyuou will register with a GP who will be responsible for the person . Unfortunately, it will require 2 months advance appointment to meet with the designated doctor and some times, the patient had suffer without being able to see the doctors months and months and at times, even they die while they are being wait listed for over a month.
By the amount people who consider themselves as doctors, including those which doctorates (honorary or not so honorary) , probably there are enough doctors.
@Hero: Yaantey promised it. We have evidence.
"Yameen had said that he will have a doctor for each family and it does not mean that each family one doctor exclusive."
That's like saying water is wet, but it's dry. Please, do the rest of the Maldives a favor and go back to Colombo and play your dirty films with Ali Hameed there.
Your yaagundaa can't deliver on such promises. We know that.
This is good news for us Indians. The better your own health facilities are, the fewer of you dimwits will need to travel to my country on health visas.....its a win win situation.
May I suggest you recruit your new doctors from Terroristan.....you have so much in common you are like twins separated at birth.....same hate filled intolerant religion, same addiction to opiates and same dumb belief that you are the descendents of Arabs and your ancestors were riding camels in the desert.
Indian doctors should stay away from the Maldives.....your contract will be changed willy nilly and you will be paid less than the agreed sum.....you will not be able to practice your religion if you are Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish, Shia, Ahmaddiya or Sufi and your passport will be confiscated the moment you arrive.
Not worth the hassle is it boys?
MissIndia.
U again started your big mouth. U bloody Hindhus have no tolerance to others .
Every day hundreds of innocent women and girls are getting raped and burn alive in your country and yet again you call that it is civilized action.
You think that we do not know why you are killing those innocent women and girls ?
The girls in your society is treated as liability and non of you want a girl in your family pure because father had bare all the cost for marriage of the girl including housing .
80% of your population lives under poverty line, and this mean that everage family can not afford to pay "dowry" and this is why you burn the women and girl alive.
Even last week your news papers had reported this.
Pl.s stop writing nonsense here and clean your own backyard first.
@minivan.
Yes Yameen had said hat he will provide and he is doing it now. He has introduced this concept in Viligili as a start and then it will get introduce across Maldives.
This can not happened over night and it will be a gradual process.
yameen does not promised like your spiritual leader Nasheed . Nasheed said he will manage this country with one laptop and one Reosrt . But the guy could not even managed the country for 5 years .
He left with over a billion dollars in debts in just 3 years when he took the office country debt was only 300 millions .
Triple the debt in just three years, what an achievement
@"Hero"
Let me explain to you that 2500 people isn't an individual. Learn basic mathematics.
You're making up lies again about Anni as you please, hoping that when you repeat them enough, people will accept it, and here's the punchline.
I'm not even an MDP member and I hate you lot for destroying what chance we had to fix our economic problems with the GMR. No thanks to you lot, legitimate foreign investors have doubts about setting up shop here. Now who's investing? Maybe drug traffickers like Artor Brothers?
You guys are nothing more than common bandits who stole what chance we had to become a developed country, all for a few grams of heroin.
So yeah, do us Maldivians a favor and please go back to the sea.
PS: You call him a thief because he set up Aasanda, ferry service and pension. Maybe you think that money belongs to you? Wrong - it belongs to the people.
Some hero you are. Heroin, maybe. But definitely not a hero.
@ Hero aka Kuribee aka Zero
Its a bit rich for a sunni Muslim to be lecturing a Hindu on tolerance.
India remains a free and secular nation only because 86% of its people are Hindus. I shudder to think what India would be like if 86% of its people were sunni Muslims.....It would be a litany of hate and intolerance that we see in Muslim countries today, particularly in the sunni majority states.....its the usual kills the Jews, shoot the Americans, behead the Hindus, flog the fornicators, hang the infidels, drown the Apostates.....small wonder that most terrorists today belong to your violent hate filled religion.
Yes India remains a poor country but there are also more dollar millionaires in India than there are people in the Maldives. We also have one of the fastest growing econonomies in the world.
The Maldivian economy.....miniscule as it is.....is bankrupt and totally dependant on aid and handouts from India.
I expect some gratitude from you dumb islanders.
No comments in poor Maldivian English please.
Hero better learn manners, bloody Hindus you quote from which uncivilized gutter Madrassa they taught scum of your kind to address people of other religions like that
Yamin ah heevanee Doctarunnakee gaheh-ga alhaa echcheh hen.
Ceylon ga MBBS Doctor akah ves maagina laari libey Dhivehi Raajjey-ga practice kurumah vure.
Kaakutha dhaanee beer kolhe,h wine kolheh boa nulevey hiki fas gandakah??
Dhe loabiverin kotarieh ga ulheni konves sifain ais lafuga hifaafa nerefaane.
Dhuvahakuves tharaqqee eh nuvey!