Construction work on the private Tree Top Hospital in Hulhumalé is expected to begin next month.
The ministry of health awarded a project to build a multi-specialty tertiary hospital to Tree Top Investments in September last year.
Tree Top Investments was formed in 2013 by four prominent local tourism companies – Champa Brothers, Kasa Holdings, Crown Company, and Kuredu Holdings.
The government-owned Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in the capital is at present the only tertiary hospital in the country. Establishing tertiary hospitals in the north and south to ease the burden on IGMH, which caters to patients travelling from across the country, is a campaign pledge of President Abdulla Yameen.
At an inauguration ceremony held at the Jen Hotel in Malé yesterday, Tree Top signed a contract with Turkish company Turmaks Alke for the construction of the 159-bed, six-storey hospital.
The expected date for completion is November 11, 2016, with the official opening scheduled for March 1, 2017.
An agreement was also signed with Malaysian company Ramsay Sime Darby for management of the hospital.
Speaking at the ceremony, tourism magnate ‘Champa’ Hussain Afeef said the estimated cost of the project is US$60 million.
Afeef said the resort companies are taking a risk by investing in a tertiary hospital and could face losses for ten years.
“But we are taking that risk because it is very much needed for the Maldives and because we are able to do it,” he was quoted as saying by newspaper Haveeru.
The goal is providing services that are currently unavailable in the Maldives, he added.
Tree Top Director Ahmed Saleem said Ramsay Sime Darby was chosen based on the company’s experience and expertise.
The partnership offers advantages such as exchanging specialists from Malaysian hospitals, he said.
The Malaysian company’s official partner is Ramsay, which is Australia’s largest hospital management company, Saleem noted.
The hospital project was awarded to Treetop last year after initial expressions of interest (EOIs) submitted by 10 companies were cancelled.
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