A ship owned by the Maldivian National Shipping Ltd, (MNSL) has been released by the port of Colombo in Sri Lanka after being impounded for three months.
According to Haveeru, the 8000 tonne ship was apprehended on 5 November 2009.
The ship had owed money to a Singaporean company and has now paid the total amount, Haveeru reports.
Another Maldivian ship was also trapped for 20 days in Malaysia during July 2009 over issues regarding payments for oil.
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(0)The ministry of health and family has announced a 15 year agreement with Apollo Hospital Group to manage Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in Male’.
The deal was signed on behalf of the government by Health Minister Dr Aminath Jameel and Dr Preetha Reddy, who represented Apollo Hospital Group.
Apollo estimates it will need to spend US$25 million to bring the hospital up to global standards, according to the Economic Times, an Indian newspaper.
A statement released by the ministry claimed the objective of the deal is to improve health services while keeping prices stable.
Apollo Hospital Group was first established in 1983, and is now considered the third largest private healthcare provider in the world. The company currently administrates 8,000 beds and has plans to reach 15,000 beds, reports the Economic Times.
Apollo is expected to make an assessment of the hospital’s needs in the first three months, and plans to offer orthopedics, cardiology, gastro, neurology and acute care and trauma specialities in the first phase of the privatisation deal. The hospital will set up and operate a cardiology unit within the year, the health ministry added.
Chairman of the privatisation committee Mahmood Razee said one of the first changes to be made by Apollo would be to management.
“The major issue was that the management structure [at IGMH] was not working properly, this led to high costs and some services and medicines not being available. The overall qaulity of service went down,” he said.
“Over the next three months there will be structural changes to management changes at IGMH, and an evaluation plan will be submitted as well. Apollo group gives IGMH the advantage of economies of scale, which will lower the overall running costs.”
The hospital’s new management group has also revealed its intentions to make 80% of its employees Maldivian over a 15 year period, although it was unclear as to how this would be achieved given the lack of medical higher education facilities in the country.
Another objective the ministry noted was to ensure that all employees are treated within the correct employment regulations set by the government.
Razee noted that the deal was not part of the government’s public-private partnership scheme.
A doctor working at IGMH said staff were unable to comment on the deal “because we haven’t been officially informed yet. All the information we have received has come through the media.”
(0)Dislikes(0)Three dead bodies have mysteriously washed up on Maldivian shores in under a month, and police still confess they have no idea who they are.
The first body was found in the lagoon of of the Reethi Rah resort on 15 January, floating three to four feet off the shore. A resort worker told Minivan News the badly decomposed body was discovered by a beach cleaner at 8:30 am in morning, and was collected by a police forensic team that arrived at 12:30 pm that afternoon.
Another body was found near the island of Mahibadhoo in north Ari atoll on 21 January. Police said the body, also badly decomposed, was discovered by a fishing boat. Police took the body for investigation.
The third body was found on a sand bank near the Taj Exotica resorts in Male atoll by staff on a diving expedition.
Police inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that because the bodies were so badly decomposed it was proving very difficult to identify who they are.
”It shows that they have been dead for a long time,” he said.
Shiyam said that the bodies found near Reethi Rah and Taj Exotica were male, while the body found near Mahibadhoo could not be identified as either gender. Neither could the nationalities of the bodies be recognised, he said.
DNA had been taken for analysis, he said, and explained that police were now trying to discover whether any of the bodies were of people reported missing from fishing boats.
”None of [the bodies] have yet matched to the family members of the people who have been reported lost,” he said.
The investigation continues.
(0)Dislikes(0)The president has revealed the government will further subsidise electricity bills to cushion people in Male’ from rising energy costs.
Speaking in his weekly radio address, President Mohamed Nasheed acknowledged that many households in Male’ were having difficulty with the new electricity prices.
“Our estimate is that about 3000 households struggle to pay their bills. Therefore, the government has decided to provide them with more support,” he said.
President Nasheed also stated that more people were being made aware about the application process for subsidies.
STELCO, the state electricity company, recently dramatically increased the price for the first 300 units of electricity. In response, a group MPs from the ruling government’s own party came forward to urge the government to do something.
The government has said previously that it will broaden eligibility for subsidies, noting that the current eligibility criteria was based on data collected in 1997.
Under that data, the poverty line is considered Rf 21 (US$1.50) a day. The president said that a new survey was under way.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldivian Civil Servant Association (MCSA) said at a rally yesterday that it will file a lawsuit against the finance ministry if civil servants are given the lowered salary this month.
MSCA spokesman Abdulla Mohamed said the organisation was placing five lawyers on standby.
”The finance minister [Ali Hashim] has personal issues against the civil servants, he’s being stubborn,” Abdulla said, adding that the problems were getting worse “because [Hashim] does not have much knowledge on how to handle a government’s finance ministry.”
”Whatever he thinks is right at the moment, he does. He does not plan things well,” Abdulla claimed.
The ministry’s request that the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and parliament mediate its dispute between the CSC “is not a solution”, he said, insisting that the ministry needed to “follow the law” and pay the full salaries for this month.
Otherwise, he said, the government would be in debt and owe civil servants the rest of the money.
Abdulla further added that the CSC had been careless, and failed to fulfill its responsibility to ensure the deductions applied the independent commissions, judiciary and police as well as other civil servants.
State Finance Minister Ahmed Assad said holding discussions with just the CSC would not lead to a solution, and that the involvement of a third party was needed.
The civil servants would be receiving the lowered salaries this month, he said. “The MCSA has a right to go to court and file a lawsuit if they have problems with the finance ministry.”
In addition, Assad claimed the CSC did not discuss the restoration of civil servants salary with the finance ministry.
”But they did asked us once: ‘is the country still in the state of a economic crisis?’, and we said ‘yes’,” Assad explained.
Governor of the MMA Fazeel Najeeb said the organisation would not outline its involvement in the arbitration process yet, but would speak to the press in several weeks.
(0)Dislikes(0)A fisherman from Seenu Meedhoo who fell into the ocean on 21 January is still missing.
The coast guard’s search effort locate the man has been unsuccessful despite the authority covering 275 square miles by sea and 580 square miles in a Dornier aircraft.
Ahmed Faruhaad fell into the ocean near a fishing site at Seenu Vilingili. The MNDF have urged all vessels travelling the area to keep an eye out for Faruhaad.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldivian National Defense Force (MDNF) have begun draining operations after Seenu Hithadhoo became flooded after heavy rain.
More than three quarters of the island was inundated, the MNDF said.
The MNDF also began sandbagging some houses after 30 became flooded last night.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme (MWSRP) has had its research permit suspended by the ministry of fisheries and agriculture after complaints about the organisation’s research methods.
“The Divers’ Association and segments of the community complained to us that they were unhappy with the way the research was being conducted,” said Minister of State for Fisheries and Agriculture Dr Hussain Rasheed Hassan.
The ministry was concerned that the research “was not being conducted under the conditions issued”, he said, adding that “the decision was made in consultation with the ministry of tourism and community stakeholders.”
The MWSRP researchers have been involved in an ongoing dispute over the tagging of whale sharks with the Divers Association of the Maldives and a number of safari boat operators, who claim the practice is driving the rarely-seen species away from its habitat and threatening the livelihoods of safari and dive boat operators.
The MWSRP contends that the tagging is harmless and the whale sharks are being driven away by the throngs of boats and swimmers that converge every time a shark breaks the surface.
The dispute reached a head on 13 January when the researchers claimed their vessel was boarded and the crew threatened at knife-point.
MWSRP’s director Richard Rees said eight men from a liveaboard called ‘The Southern Cross’ came alongside the researchers’ vessel on 13 January.
“Their spokesman was armed with a knife,” Rees said. “It started out reasonable. We told him to ask his questions about our research and we would try to answer them.”
The researchers said in a statement that they tried to explain that tagging “does not lead to evasive behaviour in the sharks and is imperative to the conservation of the species”, and that moreover, “we have not tagged in South Ari atoll since May 2009.”
They said the man then accused them “of tagging 300 whale sharks. We explained that there are only 130 known individuals in the whole of the Maldives.”
“He then declared, ‘I have no interest in shark research. I don’t care if hundreds of people come here to see the sharks. I just care about my safari boat businesses.'”
Following the verbal stoush, Rees said the men demanded to see the vessel’s research permit and search the boat.
“We didn’t have the permit with us, so we phoned the ministry of fisheries and agriculture. [The ministry] said we had their full backing, after that the men became aggressive.”
A statement from the researchers claimed the man waved his knife at them and said: ‘I don’t care about the government or research. If you are in the area tomorrow I will bring more safari boats to fight with you and sink your dhoni. If you continue your research I will kill you all.'”
Rees said the man then slashed the banners identifying the ship as a research vessel and said worse would happen if the boat was in the same area the following day.
“It was a real nice experience for us; two of the people on board were on their first day as volunteers,” Rees said, adding that after the men left the vessel the researchers retreated to avoid inflaming the situation further.
“We remained calm and said we were going straight to the police. Then the Southern Cross’s sister ship MV Orion turned up and chased us down, said we didn’t have a permit and continued to harass us.”
Inspector Ahmed Shiyam from Maldives Police Service confirmed a complaint had been filed and that while no arrests had been made, the case was currently under investigation and had been referred to officers in Male.
“We can’t say anything yet. We will investigate and make recommendations to the relevant government authorities,” he said.
Rees said that it was not just the researchers who had been threatened by the liveaboards.
Ismail Mohamed from the water sports section at Diva Resort and Spa said congestion and poor behaviour around whale sharks in early January had led to one of the resort’s guests being hit in the head by a dive dhoni while he was swimming in the water.
“They can’t control the boat that close,” he said, adding that while the guest had escaped with bruising and swelling and was filing a complaint with the resort, a lot of whale sharks also suffered from propeller damage because of the boats getting too close.
The proximity of the reef break near the popular whale sighting spot also meant “that if [other vessels] crash into me and there’s a problem [with the engine], my boat will crash on the reef and I will lose it.”
The crew of some liveaboards had also shown poor behaviour to some of Diva’s guests, “throwing dive weights and showing their naked behinds, which is disappointing behaviour for Maldivians. One guest was very angry, I think he also made a complaint.”
Tagging controversy
Ahmed Risheen from the advisory board of the Divers Association of the Maldives said the tension had been building between the vessels and the researchers because of their tagging methods.
“The sharks are disappearing because they are tagging them and taking samples. It’s a threat [to the shark’s] environment – because of the research there are less whale sharks,” Risheen said.
“They’ve been working for only three years, Maldivians have been watching sharks here for 15 years. We have a really good code of conduct here.”
Risheen also accused the MWSRP of tagging in front of guests, an activity Rees denied.
“We have a policy not to tag when tourists or boats are in the area, because we understand what their responses are going to be,” he replied.
The tagging itself was harmless to the animal, he said, “and the majority do not react. Some swim away, but we catch up and take photos to make sure tagging occurred properly.”
Allegations that researchers had boasted on their website that tagging the sharks was “like drinking coffee on a roller-coaster” were false, the researchers said.
“It is very disappointing that people believe hearsay. Our website is readily available for anyone to read and to be able to contact the MWSRP to obtain the correct information.”
The tagging process was “essential to learn more about them,” Rees insisted. The organisation’s research had revealed that the sharks travelled “enormous distances but come back to the [Maamigilli] area over and over again. “This is important because if the shark goes into international waters there are conservation implications – they are not protected outside the Maldives.”
The tags also recorded depth and temperature, allowing the reseachers to plot the whale sharks’ vertical habitats.
“The sharks spend an awful lot of time very deep and only surface infrequently, often at night. It’s amazing we get sightings at all – this kind of information is of huge value to the tourist industry.”
Opportunities to see whale sharks were unpredictable and “very limited”, he said.
“A lot of liveaboards guarantee ‘whale shark encounters’ which is ludicrous. There’s huge pressure when there are no sharks and they blame it on our research program – we have data that proves this is not the case.”
Risheen insisted that researchers’ conduct in the Maamigilli area, “the only place where you’re guaranteed to see whale sharks”, was affecting vessels’ “businesses and livelihoods.”
As for the attack on the researchers, “I heard that story, and I really regret that a Maldivian diver has done that – we’re trying to track this guy down also. We’ve had a lot of calls from Ari atoll asking us to do something about [the situation] and we’ve been trying, but apparently we were a little late.”
Commercialisation
Risheen also claimed the MWSRP were commercialising their research “through a contract with Conrad [Rangali Island] Resort.”
Dr Hussain Rasheed Hassan said the ministry was also concerned about this, “as the terms and conditions [of the research permit] state that the research must not be exploited for commercial advantage.”
“I visited their website and the researchers are asking people to donate money to sponsor whale sharks – nobody can sponser a whale, nobody has the right except the Maldives government. I’m very concerned about somebody saying they can sponsor our animals.”
Rees said the MWSRP was meeting with the ministry on 30 January to explain the program and the tagging methods that had been used.
“We will also be making our findings available on our website,” he said.
Image provided by the MWSRP.
(0)Dislikes(0)The ministry of health has announced it has raised the H1N1 swine flu alert level from four to six.
Despite the counterintuitive increase, alert level six is when the danger of the disease goes down and the risk of it spreading also decreases.
Dr Ibrahim Yasir, director general of health services, said “The disease has not spread in the way we predicted it might. We expected the disease to spread [more] with the start of the academic year and people returning from abroad.”
He said the spread of the disease had been controlled by the hard work of people in the health sector, “the priority given to the pandemic by the government and the awareness of the public.
“Since we didn’t see an increase in the spread of the disease we decided it didn’t warrant a level five alert status,” he said.
The ministry announced that with the level six status many, of the H1N1 precautions would be lifted.
Dr Ahmed Jamsheed Mohamed from the Centre of Disease Control said “Our warnings about not to gather in public places have been lifted, and places like KudaKudhinge Bageecha (children’s park) can now be opened.
“Our swine flu clinic is closing as hardly anyone who goes there any more, and the 24-hour hotline is also being closed.”
Jamsheed said lifting the precautions “does not mean we have to stop being vigilant. There is still a possibility that the disease could spread.”
Next step
The ministry announced that it would now divert its resources towards preparing for the next outbreak.
“We have 120,000 people who have been classified as a prioirty group to receive swine flu vaccines,” Dr Yasir said.
According to the ministry, vaccine doses promised to the Maldives so far include 20,000 from Saudi Arabia, 30,000 from the World Health Organisation (WHO), 15,000 from China, 1500 from Singapore and 50,000 from the government’s own budget.
“The Chinese doses have not been approved by the WHO yet so we are keeping that on hold for the moment,” Jamsheed noted.
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