Ghiyasuddin International School held an open day which was officially launched by President Mohamed Nasheed.
At the ceremony, Nasheed claimed that the government would bring more international expertise and knowledge into the country.
According to the president’s office, Nasheed claimed that such public private partnerships would only improve the education system.
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(0)Galaxy Enterprises has won the bid to manage Nasandhura Palace Hotel.
The tourism ministry opened up bidding for the hotel on 6 November 2009. Initially 24 parties had purchased the bid documents, however only eight parties submitted.
According to Miadhu, Galaxy has already finalised terms and conditions for managing the hotel.
(0)Dislikes(0)A man fell off a boat seven nautical miles north of Raa Thodoo yesterday morning and is lost at sea.
The boat was from Alif Dhaal Omadhoo, and had been on its way to sell fish to Alif Alif Kuramathi resort when the man fell into the sea.
The 25 year-old Banlgedeshi man was last seen wearing a red shirt and was around five feet and
The coast guard has urged all vessels and islands in the region to keep an eye out for the missing man.
(0)Dislikes(0)When the strip on the pregnancy test turned pink, 23-year-old Mustafa asked his girlfriend to marry him. Not because he wanted to, but because he believed it was the right thing to do.
She said no.
Aminath, who was 19, replied she was too young to have a child. And so, he told her he would “fix it”.
A few days later, Mustafa learned of a man who charged Rf2,000 (US$155) to perform an abortion. Reassured by two friends who had used him, he set up an appointment in Male’.
“The man gave her three injections and said that within one to four hours, she would start to bleed and it would be very painful and it would be like giving birth,” says Mustafa, his frail voice quivering.
“At this point I was having serious doubts about this guy. He wasn’t a doctor… he was boasting about his abortion activities and the number of girls he had done this to. He said at one point it was almost one every night. The way he said it was without a trace of compassion.”
Mustafa’s description of what followed is harrowing: Aminath was carried back and forth to the toilet, she threw up twice and was writhing in agony. Four hours later, she began to bleed.
As a Muslim country, abortion is illegal in the Maldives except to save a mother’s life, or if a child suffers from a congenital defect such as thalassemia. But anecdotal evidence points overwhelmingly to a high rate of abortion.
“I can count seven of my friends, three girls and four boys. The story was the same,” says Mustafa.
Statistical vacuum
There is scant information available on abortion in the Maldives. No research on the subject has ever been commissioned. But, says Fathimath, 40, a social researcher on youth and women, other statistics indicated that abortion was prevalent.
She points to the discrepancy between the decline in the fertility rate and the low rate of contraceptive use – an estimated 39 per cent – which raised important questions that remained unanswered.
Halfway through the conversation, Fathimath says she herself has terminated two pregnancies. The first time she was 20 and a newlywed. She had been given the opportunity to study in the UK and felt her pregnancy was ill-timed. Her second abortion was more recent: her husband had been cheating on her when she found out she was pregnant.
“At that time, I wasn’t emotionally capable of having a child,” says Fathimath, who had both of her abortions abroad.
The only tidbit of official information that exists comes from the Reproductive Health Survey conducted in 2004. The survey found that despite the absence of reliable data, it was likely that unsafe abortions could be a cause for concern. Three years later, an unofficial report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) reached a similar conclusion.
Interviews with four demographically-diverse focus groups revealed that induced abortions were common among women and girls in Male’ with most ostensibly taking place in unsafe circumstances.
But, the IPPF never obtained government permission to carry out the study and because of the qualitative nature of its research, its findings were never acknowledged or made public, says Fathimath.
The report found that the stigma of having a child out of wedlock compels women and girls to opt for abortions. Two focus groups of unmarried boys and girls asserted that abortion was widespread. Some said they knew of girls as young as 12 who had undergone abortions and each knew at least one person who had terminated a pregnancy.
The discussions further revealed that while abortion was more common among unmarried youth, it was still widespread among married couples. Even within marriage, an optimal family size, economic hardship, infidelity, domestic violence, contraceptive failures and unexpected pregnancy in older women were factors that contributed to the decision.
In one interview, the IPPF spoke to a 37-year-old woman from a poor socio-economic background whose husband suggested she have an abortion. He procured and administered the injections but soon after, the woman fell sick and began to bleed profusely. She consulted a doctor and discovered the baby was still alive; she had to travel to India for a safe abortion.
Honour killings
For those who can afford it, travelling to India or Sri Lanka is an option. But in neighbouring Sri Lanka, where abortion is illegal, the operation is performed by unskilled individuals in unhygienic settings.
One unmarried woman interviewed by the IPPF travelled to an abortion clinic in Sri Lanka when she was 31.
She said she remembered hearing the sound of women crying and the stench of blood. The abortion was carried out on a soiled bed and she was not anaesthetised.
“I felt like a piece of meat; I couldn’t help crying throughout [the process],” she said. Once the abortion was over, she was ordered out of the room despite not being able to physically move.
For those like Mustafa who cannot pay to go abroad, the alternatives are bleak. Abortion-inducing pills and injections administered by amateur abortionists are one recourse while others turn to harmful vaginal preparations, containing chemicals such as bleach or kerosene. Although infrequent, some insert objects into their uterus or induce abdominal trauma.
“It’s difficult to name names but I know prominent women who have had multiple abortions,” says Aishath Velazinee, a well-known campaigner for human rights.
“If a daughter gets pregnant, parents would rather have an abortion,” she says, referring to the shame of pregnancy outside of marriage. “I think it’s appropriate to call these abortions honour killings.”
Taboo
Using the information gleaned from the focus groups, IPPF concluded that widespread premarital and extramarital sex, high rates of divorce and remarriage (including sex between marriages), and poor access and practice of contraception could lead to a high number of unwanted pregnancies.
All four groups said that despite being illegal, sex outside of marriage was commonplace, especially among young people. Nor was it uncommon for married men to have affairs with unmarried girls.
But disturbingly, the focus groups said that couples preferred not to use contraception. Among the reasons offered included a reluctance to use condoms.
For some, the IPPF discovered, having an abortion was itself a form of contraception. One girl said: “When abortions can be obtained without much difficulty, young people do not want to use contraceptives as those take away the pleasure.”
Under the form of sharia law practiced in the Maldives, both sex before marriage and adultery are offences punishable by flogging. But attitudes towards sex reveal a discrepancy. While it is acknowledged in private that both take place, social norms and cultural attitudes restrict public discussions on the subject. As a result, students are not taught about contraception at school as for many this would be tantamount to condoning sex outside of marriage.
Government policy
Nazeera Najeeb, head of the population division in the health ministry, stressed that it was difficult to grasp the extent of the problem in the absence of official statistics.
“Without that it’s difficult to say exactly what’s happening,” she says.
The health ministry has plans to conduct research into abortion in the Maldives and educate the public about the health risks involved, she says.
“We are trying to create awareness on the disadvantages. At present we are trying to develop some mass media programmes.”
The list of potential health complications associated with unsafe abortion rolled off by Nazeera makes for grim reading: reproductive health infections, infertility, septicaemia, shock and even death.
While students could not be taught about contraception at school, they could be alerted to the dangers of unsafe abortion, she said. In addition, the health ministry could redouble its efforts to promote contraception among married couples.
For Velazinee, however, as long as the government continues to shy away from the sensitive issues that surround abortion, couples will continue to find themselves in the same quandary.
As with the drug epidemic, only government policies that addressed the real picture would help break the taboo, and thus, move the country towards finding a solution, she says. Until a shift in policy-making occurred, she adds, society will continue to be marked by a dualism: a public facade that does not reflect the private sphere.
“We gear policy to the normative standards of being a 100 per cent Muslim country rather than the reality. The government doesn’t want to publicise the availability of contraception for fear the move will be misinterpreted. They don’t want to acknowledge these issues, but the reality is that these things happen.”
The names of all those who have spoken about their personal experiences involving abortion have been changed.
(0)Dislikes(0)The waters surrounding the Maldives have an international reputation for spectacular diving that entices hordes of visitors to the country every year.
Much of the credit for this goes to the prolific marine life, which ensures even the sharks are friendly – a flailing tourist is a difficult meal when all a shark has to do is open its mouth for the fish to swim inside.
But when injuries at the fins, spines, teeth and tentacles of marine life do occur, local medical facilities have proven ill-prepared to deal with them.
When local marine biologist Verena Wiesbauer Ali visited an island doctor following a nasty sting from a Pelagia panopyra (Purple Jellyfish), he asked her why she had eaten one.
“I had swam through a soup of jellyfish and the itching was so bad I couldn’t sleep,” she recalls.
The doctor treated the symptoms with an IV and some anti-histamines, but later told her there was little literature available on the country’s dangerous or toxic marine life.
“His diagnosis was ‘fish stinger’,” she says. “I felt sympathetic so I took in a photo of the jellyfish the next day and the doctor began to ask a lot of other questions.”
Much of the literature Verena found was in German, and the treatments were varied. Conventional wisdom, such as applying vinegar to a jellyfish wound to deactivate the poison, was not always the case: “If you apply vinegar to the sting of a Portugese Man o’ War, it can have the opposite effect,” Verena discovered.
Researching further she did find a great many local stories along the lines of “‘there’s an animal this shape and this wide, and if you touch it your arm will fall off.'”
Assembling a team of doctors and marine biologists, including Dr Jens Lindner and Dr Reinhard Kilinger, she decided to write the Maldives’ first reference to dangerous, venomous and poisonous marine animals.
“We felt the need for a doctor’s reference that gives a detailed description of symptoms and recommendations for medical treatment,” she says, adding that one important inclusion was a Dhivehi reference dictionary for the local names of different species and dangerous seafood, such as sea urchins.
Beyond medical applications, Verena says the authors tried to make the book accessible “for anyone coming into contact with the sea, from snorkelers and divers to tourists and marine biologists.”
It includes information and treatment instructions for creatures like lion fish (“from a group known as scorpion fish that have quite strong venom – the display they make by spreading their fins is to show prey ‘I’m poisonous'”), sharks (“there are 35 species in the Maldives, including tiger sharks which can be more aggressive”,) and sting rays.
“Sting rays lie on the sea floor feeding on mollusks,” Verena explains. “They will move away from a person, but if stepped on they have venomous spines in their tail that can be fatal, as with [Australian TV personality] Steve Irwin. Most people are hit in the shin, but the spine is serrated and it normally has to be pushed through the limb; you can’t pull it, although now we can operate it out.”
Even seemingly-harmless surgeon fish can cause painful injuries: “They have a blade at the base of their tail fin.”
At a presentation on the book to doctors and nurses at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) today, president of the Maldivian Medical Association Dr Azeez Yoosuf noted that while Male’s roads caused more injuries than the country’s waters, “there is a lot of inappropriate treatment of injuries caused by marine creatures.”
“We come across island hospitals where wounds caused by sting rays have been nicely stitched up, but because of the toxins the wound becomes necrotic. It’s better to keep the wound open, but the tendency is to stitch it,” he explains.
Surgeon fish injuries were surprisingly common, he added. “You can safely swim through a school of surgeon fish. But curious tourists sometimes try to pat them and get a big cut on their hand, which can become a problem because the [tail] can be covered in a lot of slime.”
As for the tremendously poisonous stonefish, “we don’t have the anti-venom, it’s only available in Australia. We just treat the pain.”
Despite their fearsome reputation, shark attacks were very rare, he said.
“The only shark bite I’ve seen was on someone who caught one and tried to get the fishhook out by putting his hand in the [live] shark’s mouth.”
The traditional treatment for jellyfish stings, he noted, was “hot urine or alcohol.”
“Dangerous Marine Animals – Biology, Injuries & Medical Treatment” (Kikinger, Lindner, Wiesbauer-Ali 2009) is printed and published in the Maldives and is available directly from the publisher Atoll Images, Ma. Shah, Dhidhi Goalhi, Male’ (3341643).
(6)Dislikes(1)President Nasheed has received an invitation to the 16th South Asian Summit for Region Cooperation (SAARC) to be held in Bhutan.
The letter of invitation was presented to the president by the Bhutanese Prime Minister, Jigme Thinley.
President Nasheed said that the SAARC summit should be ‘result orientated’, and that greater cooperation among member countries was needed.
(0)Dislikes(0)Local airline Maldivian has announced it is planning to travel to more international destinations including Dubai, Dhaka, Mumbai and Madras.
According to TVM, the airline will secure a Boeing 737 jet that will travel the new routes.
The airline announced that only the airline’s senior pilots would fly the aircraft.
Maldivian currently flies to Trivandrum and Colombo. The airline is also looking to expand its local destinations, and is in talks with airport developers at Baa Dharavandhoo.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have arrested two men suspected of being among the most prolific drug dealers in the Gaaf Dhaal and Faumulaku regions.
Both men were in possession of narcotics when the arrests were made. Police said the arrests followed an operation conducted by a team from Male’ to track and apprehend major players in the drug industry.
The Gaaf Dhaal dealer was arrested on 1 January on Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo. The Faumulaku man was arrested on 4 January.
Both are currently under police custody while the case is being investigated.
(0)Dislikes(0)The secretariat of the former president has accused senior government officials of blocking funding for his office and attempting to obstruct its work.
A press release issued by the office of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom states that it was created on 11 December 2009 under legislation passed t last year by parliament to provide protection and privileges for former presidents.
“Under article eight of the law on protection and privileges for former presidents, the state has to arrange up to Rf175,000 a month for an office, employees and ‘other matters’ for former presidents ‘should they want to’ do social work of benefit to community,” reads the press statement.
It adds that the legislation leaves the formation of the office to the discretion of former presidents, and not parliament or the government.
Article 140 states, “A member of the cabinet shall be given responsibility for each authority or institute established by government or the People’s Majlis, except for independent institutions specified in this constitution or established pursuant to a law.”
However the statement adds that “it is clear” that a cabinet minister does not have to be responsible for the office and moreover, it was “regrettable” that senior government officials were claiming that the former president did not have the authority to create such an office and were “attempting to obstruct” the work of the former president.
Speaking to Minivan News today, Hassan Afeef, political advisor to President Mohamed Nasheed, denied the president’s office was obstructing the social work of the former president.
“What he has to do first is state what kind of social work he wants to do and then inform the relevant authority – that is the finance ministry,” Afeef said.
When the request was made with the finance ministry, he said, it will issue funds depending on the type of work and the number of employees needed.
Afeef argued that the office would be created by a law passed by parliament and therefore would be overseen by a ministry.
Since the law clearly states that funds should be issued for “social work” the former president must specify the kind of work he wants to undertake.
“I don’t understand why he is trying to do everything by using power instead of respecting the law,” he said.
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