Senior figures at Male’s two major hospitals have claimed the institutions could “run into difficulties” supplying certain medicines and services if the current currency crisis in the country continues, although stocks are currently sufficient.
Amidst a controversial government decision to devalue the rufiya against the US dollar in order to address the black market dealings for foreign money, businesses such as flight providers have also claimed to be facing difficulties in providing their services.
In this market place, ADK Hospital Managing Director Ahmed Afaal said that ADK Enterpises, the hospital’s parent company, had raised concerns about the availability of dollars to purchase certain medicines for its pharmacy operations.
“At the moment, the hospital has stock for our needs. Yet if we cannot get enough because of a lack of dollars we may run into difficulties in the future,” he said. “For the time being, we have enough medicines to treat patients, although some medicines may become difficult to find at our pharmacies.”
Cathy Waters, Chief Executive of Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), agreed that concerns over the availability of dollars may hamper the hospital’s efforts to purchase medical goods and services in the short to medium-term, though she believed payment of the expatriate workers vital to running health centres was a greater problem at present.
“My biggest concern is how [this financial situation] may impact our ability to employ expatriate workers, as well as pay for certain goods,” she said. “We are particularly dependent on an expatriate workforce at the hospital and these workers are particularly aware of the dollar situation in the Maldives.”
According to Waters, expat staff had already raised concerns about difficulties they have experienced in sending dollars abroad to support their families – a key reason many initially accepted work in the Maldives.
Waters said she believed the hospital could also face ongoing problems in covering the costs of imported medicines and other services, despite supplies currently meeting needs.
Requests had been made to national health authorities to try to find ways to alleviate possible short-term and medium-term supply and payment issues, she added, although she said she had not yet been informed as to what measures might be taken.
The Ministry of Health was not responding to Minivan News at time of press.
However Dr Jorge Mario Luna, World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to the Maldives, told Minivan News that at present there had not been any requests from health service providers in the country concerning possible procurement problems as a result of a shortage of US dollars.
Dr Luna said that the WHO itself did not procure drugs or treatments outside of public health medicines for certain illnesses like tuberculosis or filariasis, yet it was ready to assist health services if required.
“As of today, we have not received any request for emergency medicines due to a procurement problem,” he said. “In case we receive a request, we stand ready to assist.
The government has meanwhile claimed that fluctuations caused by the managed float of the rufiya will stabilise in three months as the market adjusts.
(0)Dislikes
(0)