The government has announced a plan to open an international standard multi-speciality hosipital in Hulhumale’, and asked for submission of proposals to develop and manage it for a minimum period of 35 years.
The Hulhumale’ multi-speciality hospital will be the first of its kind in the country, offering specialist treatment for a variety of ailments. The government intends to run it as a public private partnership project, where the developer must design and finance the project themselves.
President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s administration has held separate weekly press conferences on its economic, education and social policies. The government has announced a raft of ambitious plans, including the building of a bridge between Malé and Hulhumalé and developing regional airports.
The hospital will have 337 beds, and will be of a standard which can cater to both local and foreign patients, Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed said in a press conference held today.
Minister of Gender and Health Mariyam Shakeela provided details; 309 of these beds will be reserved for in-patients, with the remaining 28 beds being used in the Intensive Care Unit. She stated that it is a key objective of the government to ensure that citizens are able to obtain quality healthcare at inexpensive rates.
She further stated that one reason a multi-speciality hospital is located in Hulhumale’ is to avoid probable over-crowding in capital Male’ City’s state-owned hospital IGMH upon introduction of new and better services. She said that this would lead to a decrease in the number of citizens seeking medical services abroad.
While the government has not yet decided on a particular site to build the hospital, Shakeela said that all efforts will be put in to attempt to find a location agreeable to both the state and the party developing the hospital.
Meanwhile, the Maldives National Defense Forces (MNDF) has said it will upgrade the military hospital Senahiya and open it up for the public.
Plans for a similar hospital in Hulhumale’ were first discussed in 2004 during former President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom’s administration.
In 2009, then President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration also held discussions on the matter in the National Planning Council.
The previous government headed by former President Mohamed Waheed also announced for proposals twice in 2012, with just one applicant the first time, and none during the second. The government will provide them with a plot of land as state equity.
Economic Minister Saeed expressed confidence that although previous governments could not find interested companies to develop the hospital, he believed that “the current government will successfully achieve this as investor trust is rapidly increasing in recent days”.
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