Tag: maldives news

Court fines Shafeeg for defaming Gayoom by publishing book on torture during his rule

Local historian Ahmed Shafeeg has been ordered to pay up to MVR 5000 (US$324) in compensation after the Civil Court on Tuesday found him guilty of defaming former President Mamoon Abdul Gayoom.

Gayoom sued Shafeeg for politically-motivated slander over a book he released in 2010,  in which he claimed that 111 Maldivian citizens were held in custody and tortured under Gayoom’s administration.

The judge ruled in favor of Gayoom in the absence of Shafeeg, noting that the defendant had failed to present himself or a representative to the hearings despite the multiple court summons and attempts by the police to bring him to he court.

Shafeeg has to pay up to MVR 5000 withing one month from the date of the ruling, as a compensation for the damages caused to Gayoom’s character, according to the court.

Chronicles of torture

Shafeeg, now 83, was held in solitary confinement for 83 days in 1995 together with three other writers, including Hassan Ahmed Maniku, Ali Moosa Didi and Mohamed Latheef.

Shafeeg contends that 50 of his diaries containing evidence relating to the deaths of the 111 Maldivians were confiscated during a raid by 15 armed men. He was ultimately released by Gayoom with without charge, and was told by the investigating officer to write a letter of appreciation to the then-President for the pardon.

During the launch of Shafeeg’s book, titled “A Day in the Life of Ahmed Shafeeg”, then-President Mohamed Nasheed observed that he knew the events chronicled by Shafeeg very well.

“Back then, from 1989 and 1990 onward, I spent a very long time – three years in total – in jail. Of that I spent 18 months in solitary confinement, and nine of those months in the tin cell,” he said.

All Maldivian rulers had employed fear to govern, Nasheed said, and he had always believed that Gayoom had him arrested and tortured to serve as a cautionary tale as the former president and his senior officials were already aware of the intent of “a whole generation” to topple his government since the early 80s.

“So the decision to put me through every imaginable torture in the world from the very beginning as an example to all those people was made, in my view, not because of any animosity President Maumoon had towards me personally,” Nasheed said.

He added that Gayoom alone could not be blamed for all the human rights abuses that occurred under his watch.

Nasheed meanwhile also described Gayoom’s decision to take legal action against the historian Shafeeg, who has lasting physical and mental damage from his ordeal, as “going beyond the limits.”

Nasheed said: “I ask President Maumoon very sincerely and respectfully, don’t do this,” Nasheed said. “Go to Shafeeg. Go and ask for his forgiveness. This is not the time to come out and say ‘I’m going to sue Shafeeg.’ If you want to sue Shafeeg now, you will have to sue me. That is because I will repeat what Shafeeg is saying fourfold.”

Together with allegations of corruption in Gayoom’s administration, such as those flagged in audit reports, allegations of torture remain one of the most politically divisive topics in the Maldives.

Since Nasheed took office after beating Gayoom’s 30 year-old autocratic rule in 2008, public opinions – very strongly held – oscillated between a desire for prosecuting Gayoom and his close allies for the torture and corruption and a desire to move on and reconciliation. Nasheed openly supported the latter option to be magnanimous.

However, after his controversial resignation on February 7, which he insisted was forced by an opposition backed military-police coup, Nasheed told Time Magazine that allowing former dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to live in peace following the 2008 election was a wrong decision.

“The lesson is we didn’t deal with Gayoom. That’s the obvious lesson. And my romantic ideas of how to deal with a dictator were wrong. I will agree with that,” Nasheed told Time, in a striking reversal of his magnanimity in 2008.

The court decision in favor of Gayoom also comes less than a week after the UNHRC called for the government to establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate “all human rights violations, including torture that took place in the State party prior to 2008 and provide compensation to the victims.”

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Parliament sittings canceled indefinitely by Speaker

Speaker Abdulla Shahid has announced that parliament sittings will be cancelled indefinitely as “a peaceful atmosphere could not be assured” for sittings to proceed amidst rising political tension.

In a press statement today, Speaker Shahid said that MPs of the formerly ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) confronted the Speaker in his private chambers after MDP MP Mohamed Rasheed ‘Kubey’ was forcibly removed at the beginning of today’s sitting.

“Moreover, confrontations occurred between MPs in the chamber to the point of becoming dangerous,” the statement read, adding that “an atmosphere of calm necessary to conduct sittings could not be assured” as all recent sittings had to be cancelled due to disorder.

Shahid explained that he decided to invoke the Speaker’s authority under section 213(e) of the rules of procedure to cancel sittings indefinitely as he believed a political solution had to be sought through dialogue among parliamentary group leaders.

Section 213(e) states that the Speaker has the discretion to not conduct sittings for a period “as a precautionary measure if there is fear of a certain type of danger facing the Majlis.”

Both today and yesterday’s sitting were cancelled after MDP MPs vociferously raised points of order to protest the arrest of MPs during the party’s ongoing street demonstrations and the government’s decision to alter the ‘Aasandha’ health insurance scheme to charge patients from private hospitals and clinics.

MDP MPs led by MP Ali Waheed also disrupted today’s meeting of the Finance Committee alleging that the committee had failed to investigate the government “illegally borrowing” MVR 300 million from the Bank of Maldives.

“Paralysed”

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, MDP MP Ali Waheed argued that parliament has been “paralysed” since the transfer of power on February 7 and that “nothing productive” had been done in the past six months.

MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ‘Ibu’, parliamentary group leader of the MDP, contended that the government was violating the Public Finance Act by borrowing large sums of money without parliamentary approval.

Ibu claimed that the Finance Minister had written to parliament’s Finance Committee seeking MVR9 billion (US$583 million) for the budget as well as MVR 3 billion (US$194 million) in additional expenditure.

MP Ali Waheed meanwhile noted that MPs last month overwhelmingly rejected a Finance Committee recommendation to make changes to the Aasandha health insurance scheme.

Speaking to press after today’s sitting, MDP Chairperson and Hulhu-Henveiru MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik said the party would not allow parliament to resume while the current government was altering the MDP’s flagship free universal health insurance scheme.

MDP MP Eva Abdulla claimed that the government was facing a shortfall in budgeted funds for the health insurance scheme due to increasing expenditure on the police and army.

“What we’re seeing is the result of a group of people assuming power without making any pledges to the public,” she said. “That is, they do not have to be accountable to the people. They do not have to let the people know what is going on.”

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Samah confesses to murdering policeman after drinking cologne

Mohamed Samah of Kaashidhoo today confessed in the Criminal Court to attacking Lance Corporal Adam Haleem, stating that he was under the influence of alcohol after drinking cologne.

According to local media, Samah told the court that he attacked Haleem with the intention of frightening him but not to kill him, he told the court that he wanted to repent and apologise to Haleem’s family.

Local newspaper Sun quoted Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed as saying that the court will summon the inheritors of Lance Corporal Adam Haleem to the court to see if they have any objections to passing a death sentence against Samah if he was found guilty of killing the police officer.

Local media reported Samah as admitting today that he had sniffed Dunlop glue and drunk cologne to get high.

On July 23 Lance Corporal Adam Haleem was stabbed to death on Kaashidhoo island in Kaafu Atoll.

In a statement issued earlier, police said the suspect in the case had confessed to attacking Haleem with a knife, and had told the police how the incident occurred.

The statement said that Haleem was attacked that night while he was on his way to the Kaashidhoo Police Station to report to duty.

While he was on the way to the police station he saw Mohamed Samah on the road, who was supposed to be under house arrest. Haleem followed Samah to his house and asked him to get himself ready to come with him to the police station.

Samah refused to go to the police station and became angry. He entered his house and took an eight inch knife from the kitchen, which he used to stab Haleem in the left side of his chest, according to the statement.

Before Haleem was attacked, he called the police station and informed officers on duty about Samah, and asked them to attend the scene. However by the time the other police officers attended the area Samah had stabbed Haleem and his body was lying on the ground.

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Gayoom expresses “frustration” over “foreign influence” in inquiry commission

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has said that he will not accept that the toppling of former President Nasheed’s government on February 7 was a coup d’état, even if the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI)’s report  came to such a conclusion.

After giving a statement to the CNI, Gayoom in a press conference held at the office of his Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), stated that he had seen the recording of the video in which ousted President Nasheed publicly resigned, and said that it was not made “under duress” and that therefore it was very clear that it “was not a coup”

“Even though I was in Malaysia, I saw the video recording of how he resigned and what he said – such as that he is now resigning, and that if he continued to remain as the president the country may face further grief and pain,” Gayoom said.

“Also, it was he himself who wrote the letter of resignation and it is he who sent the letter to the parliament,” Gayoom claimed added.

Gayoom said that there was no point in Nasheed claiming that it is “a coup” after he had resigned in accordance with the constitution.

“I told this to the members of the CNI, and I think they seem to believe it too. I also said that Mohamed Nasheed after [his resignation] went home to sleep, he slept that afternoon, that night, the following morning and then he changed his mind [after waking up], then in the evening said he did not resign, or that his resignation was not permanent but a coup d’état. Then who is going to believe that?” Gayoom questioned.

“Something must have happened after 24 hours, some people must have talked to him and ‘got into his head’ to make him change his statement. Before that he was under the belief that he resigned,” the former president contended.

“Frustrations”

In the press conference, Gayoom stated that during the session with the CNI, he also highlighted two things that “frustrated” him about the commission.

One reason for the frustrations was, he explained, the inclusion o a representative of ousted President Nasheed in the commission, following “foreign” influence.

“The reason that frustrates me is that if this commission has a representative of Nasheed there should be a representative of mine too. That is because on many previous occasions Nasheed has repeatedly made false accusations towards me, both in the Maldives and outside, that the change [of power] was a revolution that I brought in,” Gayoom said.

“Where is justice when there is someone in this commission who supports Nasheed’s claims?” the ex-president questioned.

Gayoom claimed that it would only be fair that he have his “own representative if Nasheed gets to have one”.

His second cause of frustration, Gayoom said, was that the CNI was mandated to look into the events that took place from January 14 to February 8.

He stated that the “change” that took place on February 7 was the result of Nasheed’s “unlawful” and “un-Islamic” actions carried out, that had “angered a lot of citizens”, and contended that this would be clear if the CNI looked into what Nasheed had done after assuming presidency in 2008.

Gayoom during the press conference also shared some of the questions that the CNI posed to him during the session, and the responses he offered.

He said that the CNI questioned as to whether he had provided any financial benefit to the key actors of the change in February 7, to which he replied saying that he “did not spend a single cent on them”.

“Nasheed told the commission that when he entered the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) headquarters, I had told someone that now the ‘fish has gone into the net’ and to better to hold it there,” he explained. “I said that was an outright lie.”’

Gayoom maintained his earlier stand that he had no part to play in the transfer of power, and that “now even Nasheed should believe it because he said that he would believe it if I went to the CNI and told them that I did not play a part in the ‘coup’.”

Ending political instablity

When the CNI had asked him what he thought would bring an end to the ongoing political instability in the country, Gayoom said told the commission the solution was for Nasheed and his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to stop their “extremist” actions and pave the way for negotiations.

Despite Gayoom expressing his openness to negotiate, last month in a rally held by the PPM in Addu City he vigorously condemned his successor, claiming that Nasheed had a habit of defaming him to both the local and international community.

Gayoom at the time said that he “humbly refused” a request from United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Patricia Butenis, to take part in the All Party Talks along with Nasheed.

He dismissed Nasheed’s claims that the controversial transfer of power was a coup d’état, and commended the acts of the mutinying police and military officials.

Following the remarks, the opposition MDP expressed its disappointment to see Gayyoom refusing to take part in the All Party Talks.

“With the country fallen into this grave state, it is saddening to see Gayoom refusing to take part in the All Party Talks, a negotiation that is highly related to the public interest of the country,” MDP Spokesperson MP Imthiyaz Fahmy said, and called on the former President to prioritise the country before his own personal interest.

Fahmy said the MDP was ready to come to the negotiation table, a sentiment matched by former MP and MDP Legal affairs committee member Ibrahim ‘Ibra’ Ismail.

“I was once the President of the MDP. Nasheed was the Chairperson then. We both were harassed and tortured during Gayoom’s regime because we were opposed to his rule,” Ibra said. “But even then we were both prepared to talk to Gayoom and his government on issues that concerned the national interest,” he recalled.

Gayoom showing “symptoms of dementia”

Speaking to Minivan News, Ibra described Gayoom’s comments as “desperate” and in “self-denial”, knowing that CNI report would unveil the “dirty truth” behind the toppling of the country’s first democratically elected government.

He further suggested that the recent remarks that Gayoom had been making in the local media exhibited symptoms of dementia, a loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person beyond what might be expected from normal aging.

“Perhaps a person may make contrasting statements rarely. But we are speaking of several and repeated statements, which may suggest that [Gayoom] maybe exhibiting symptoms of dementia. People of that age face dementia, due to old age,” he alleged.

In response to Gayoom’s frustrations on the CNI, Ibra questioned why Gayoom should have his own representation when allegations were levied against several others, and stated that it was impossible to include the representatives to CNI.

“Allegations were levied against the current Commissioner of Police, Defence Minister, the President and several politicians. Can we include each of their representatives in the commission?” he questioned.

Ibra stated that the focus and the mandate of the CNI was to find out whether Nasheed resigned under duress or not, and added that it was not the CNI’s mandate to see how Nasheed ran the country, or reflect on frustrations expressed by Gayoom.

Ibra further alleged that Gayoom was trying to discredit the members of CNI, knowing that the CNI report would not come out in his favor.

“I think he clearly knows from what the CNI knows and the evidences they collected, and from the facts surrounding the event, that it is highly unlikely the report will not come out in his favour. So he has already begun his work to discredit the CNI stating that it is not impartial and lacks credibility,” Ibra claimed.

Concern and condemnation

Following Gayoom’s remarks, in a media statement the opposition MDP expressed concerns and condemned the remarks, citing that it reflected Gayoom’s lack of concern on the interests of the country.

“When a lot of people are alleging that the transfer of power that took place on February 7 was a coup d’etat, and while many question the events that unfolded on that day as well as the legitimacy of the current government, it is very concerning to see former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom publicly stating that he would not believe that former government of the Maldives was toppled by a coup, even if the CNI established to look into the issue decides so,” read the statement.

The MDP in the statement said that the democratic achievements the people of the country had achieved in the last three years were diminishing, and claimed that police brutality and human rights abuses had become abundant following the coup.

“The grave situation that the Maldives lies today is that the economic growth of the country has severely slowed down, efforts of social protection of the people are at a halt, unemployment rates are rapidly rising and people’s income has come down significantly,” read the statement.

The MDP in the statement alleged that despite the country being in such a grave situation, Gayoom’s remarks reflect his insincerity and lack of concern towards the general well being of the country and its people.

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President Waheed extends CNI deadline, provides personal account of transfer of power

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan has  extended the deadline by which the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) must conclude its report into February’s transfer of power to August 30, 2012.

The deadline to submit the report of the CNI – which was established, and later reconstituted to investigate events during and leading up to the controversial transfer of power on February 7 – had been initially been set for July 31.

However, the President’s Office confirmed yesterday that Dr Waheed had issued a decree approving the extension of the report’s deadline.  Once complete, the findings are to be submitted to President Waheed, Parliamentary Speaker Abdulla Shahid and the prosecutor general and attorney general.

Earlier this month, CNI Co-Chair – retired Singaporean Judge G P Selvam – said a deadline extension was required in order to conclude the report due to the hundreds of people wishing to provide information.

The extension was granted the same day that President Waheed gave further information to the CNI regarding his own views on what transpired during the transfer of power, according to local media. The president had previously given information to the CNI before it began conducting its investigation under a new composition.

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BML posts MVR 40 million profit in half year results

The Bank of Maldives (BML) has posted a MVR 40 million (US$2.6 million) net profit in its half year results to June 2012.

“This is after allocating MVR 224 million (US$14.5 million) to loan loss provisions during the first five months of the year,” the bank stated.

“At the half year operating profit reached MVR 263 million (US$17 million), an increase of 15 percent over the same period last year. Net interest income increased from MVR 223 million (US$14.5 million) in June 2011 to MVR 247 million (US$16 million) in the six months to June 2012, an 11 percent increase compared to the same period last year.”

BML stated that the results “reflected the strength of the bank and its success in dealing with non-performing loans.”

“I am very pleased to inform all our shareholders that we have returned to profit and that our Non Performing Net Assets (NPNA) provisioning is at a very comfortable level. I have for some time been very encouraged by our strong growth at an operating profit level, which has come about as a result of diversified income streams and strong cost control. We are now seeing all of these factors manifest in retained profits for the business,” said BML CEO Peter Horton.

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Paradise Island Resort to host 2012 GMR Maldives Travel Awards

Paradise Island Resort and Spa is set to host the 2012 GMR Maldives Travel Awards ceremony on September 28, organisers have said.

The North Male’ Atoll-based resort will be hosting the event, which has been launched by the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO).

GMR, presently contracted to manage and develop a new terminal at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), will serve as the awards’ main sponsor.

Local group High Rise Pvt Ltd has said it will be organising and managing the ceremony over the next three years.

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Pro-government MPs hit out at UN’s “biased” and “political” calls for religious freedom

MPs of several government-aligned parties have expressed concern over a UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) report calling for freedom of religion, sexual orientation and several other commitments in the Maldives, claiming the document is “biased” and “against the will of the people”.

Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Abdulla Jabir told Minivan News today that he had “reservations” about the UN’s conclusions, claiming they appeared to single out former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s government for alleged human rights abuses, while also contravening the constitution and laws of the Maldives.

Progressive Party of Maldives MP Ahmed Mahlouf  also hit out at the report’s conclusions, which he claimed were both “political” and “biased” as a result of the influence of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), according to local media.

UNHRC calls

The UNHRC findings urged Maldivian authorities to guarantee citizens’ right to democracy, permit freedom of religion, reform the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), abolish flogging and the death penalty, and deal with human trafficking, among other recommendations.

A core concern of the committee involved the Maldives’ reservation to Article 18, concerning freedom of religion, the validity of which was questioned by the committee on the basis that it was “not specific, and does not make clear what obligations of human rights compliance the State party has or has not undertaken.”

However, Jabir today contended that the stipulation within the Maldives constitution that the nation was 100 percent Islamic reflected the views of the Maldivian people, with not a single political party in the country having called for religious freedom.

“It is the Maldivian people who have decided that if you are not a Muslim, you are not a Maldivian. There is not one party here calling for this to change,” he said. “Maybe this is not what is practiced in many other countries around the world, but it is what he have decided here by law. It is our sovereign right.”

Aside from calls for freedom of religion, Jabir also said he was concerned about the issue of establishing an independent inquiry into “all human rights violations, including torture” that were allegedly conducted prior to the 2008 election.

He claimed this appeared to single out the 30 year autocratic rule of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom,  who was voted from office during the 2008 presidential elections.

“We have had other presidents in this country before Mr Gayoom and I do not understand why they are not also being focused on. Why only Gayoom’s time? This shows there is bias in this report,” he said. “Before President Gayoom, we had President [Ibrahim] Nasir. It should look at all abuses from the country’s first president onwards.”

Constitutional matter

Jabir added that he had personally been one of the 12 member body who had drawn up the present constitution, that had in turn been approved by the Maldivian people.  He claimed that despite the UN calling for freedom of religion and sexual orientation – as well as other commitments designed to address concerns about human trafficking and judicial reform – the organisation was unable to overrule the laws and regulations of a sovereign nation.

“When the UN asks for freedom of religion, this is what former President Nasheed has been trying to promote in the country,” he claimed.

Jabir’s concerns about alleged political bias serving to influence the UNHRC’s conclusion were also raised by the PPM, a party formed last year by former President Gayoom.

PPM MP Mahlouf reportedly told the Sun Online news service yesterday that items raised in the UN report seen to contradict Islam would not be implemented in the Maldives.

He claimed that the findings had been influenced by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and “foreign associates” linked to the party.

“MDP encourages the destruction of our sovereignty and our religious values,” Mahlouf was quoted as telling Sun Online.

Mahlouf reportedly pledged that the PPM would work to stand against allowing any changes relating to the national religion under Maldivian law as a report on how the Maldives will implement the Committee’s recommendations is due to be delivered to the UN during the next twelve months.

Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, leader of the government-aligned Dhivehi Rayythithunge Party (DRP) was not responding to calls today about the report.  Both DRP Deputy Leader Ibrahim Shareef and MP Dr Abdullah Mausoom could also not be reached at the time of press.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed, who has alleged that he was forced to resign from office on February 7 this year in a “coup detat”, had denied advocating for freedom of religion during his time in office. The former president has faced strong criticism from political opponents over his commitments to protecting the nation’s Islamic faith.

However, during a gathering of former opposition political figures, NGOs and other civil society organisations on December 23 last year to “defend Islam”, Nasheed held a counter-rally for those he claimed practised a “tolerant form” of the faith that he contended been traditionally followed in the Maldives.

“We can’t achieve development by going backwards to the Stone Age or being ignorant,” he said back in December, 2011.

The President also called on leaders of political parties to explain their stance on religious issues to the public ahead of a scheduled 2013 presidential election.

“Should we ban music? Should we circumcise girls? Should we allow 9 year-olds to be married; is art and drawing forbidden? Should we be allowed to have concubines? We have to ask is this nation building? Because we won’t allow these things, we are being accused of moving away from religion,” he said at the time.

Nasheed also urged MPs at the time to discuss the inclusion of Sharia punishments in a revised penal code “without calling each other unbelievers.”

The December 23 coalition also raised concerns over calls by United Nations Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay during a visit to the Maldives last year that flogging be abolished as a punishment for extra-marital sex in the country.

Pillay’s comments further fuelled tensions across the nation late last year over concerns about the erection of monuments in Addu Atoll to commemorate the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit that were deemed as “idolatrous” by some.

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Patients to be charged at private clinics under Aasandha from August 1

Treatment from private hospitals and clinics will be covered under the “Aasandha” universal health insurance schemes  from August 1, with an agreed amount to be charged from people going to those clinics.

According to a statement released by the Aasandha Company on Sunday, private clinics are being included in the scheme after they agreed to a revised price list for health services with the National Social Protection Agency (NSPA).

The scheme will cover the treatments from those private clinics based on the revised price list, while the clinics are allowed to charge their patients to cover any additional costs.

“Therefore, patients will likely have to share the costs of outpatient care and other services,” the company adds.

The authorities have not revealed the amount to be charged, but State Health Minister and National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) Board Chairman Thorig Ali Luthfee told local media that the “charge will not be a burden to the patients.”

“In addition to what is being (covered) from Aasandha, they might charge a small amount from the patient. Once they agree to the price with us, they cannot alter that price,” Thorig told Haveeru.

According to Thorig, four clinics have so far agreed to the prices, and Aasandha services will be offered at the clinics as soon as the agreements are signed.

Price negotiations with several other clinics are still reportedly pending as over 60 private healthcare providers have applied for Aasandha coverage.

According to the Aasandha website, the scheme currently covers treatment from IGMH, ADK Hospital, IMDC Hospital in Addu and other hospitals and health centres currently operated by state-owned health corporations.

Thoriq observed that privately-owned ADK, the second largest healthcare provider in the country, will also have to confirm the revised prices agreed with NSPA to keep providing Aasandha services from next month on wards.

Under the parliament-approved scheme which commenced in January, all Maldivian citizens will receive government-sponsored coverage up to Rf100,000 (US$6,500) per year, including further provisions to citizens who require further financial assistance. Expatriate workers are also eligible for coverage providing their employers pay an upfront fee of Rf1,000 (US$65).

MDP’s critical response

Following the decision to charge patients at private health premises, the former ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) which initiated the universal insurance scheme, under its affordable healthcare pledge, contended that the government’s decision reflects attempts to “restore the tradition of begging to afford health care services”.

According to the statement released by the MDP, the agreement signed between Aasandha company and the government explicitly states that no amount can be charged from the patients.

“The agreement signed by the Finance Ministry, Health Ministry and Aasandha Company explicitly states that no amount should be taken in fees or as any other charge from the people,” the statement reads. “Therefore, we condemn the coup government’s attempts to charge people a fee for healthcare services.”

The party also accused the government aligned Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and coalition alliance of deliberately attempting to sabotage the health insurance scheme.

The MDP noted that while the party was in power it had regularly made the payments to Aasandha company as per the agreement, however, the incoming government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik had not made the payments, pushing the scheme to the brink of collapse.

Aasandha is a public-private partnership with Allied Insurance. Under the agreement, Allied splits the scheme 60-40 with the government. The actual insurance premium is paid by the government, while claims, billing and public awareness is handled by the private partner.

Aasandha Managing Director Mohamed Shafaz told Minivan News last week that the government had failed to cover weekly premium payments as agreed under the Aasandha contract since March 2012.

He alleged that while the scheme was continuing to run, the shortfall in state funding was creating some difficulties for service providers such as hospitals and pharmacies both in the Maldives and outside the country in the wider South Asia region.

Without detailing specifics, State Health Minister Luthfee said that the government was presently involved in consultations to clear outstanding bills. He added that a target of 30 days had been set to try and settle outstanding debts to creditors.

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