President Mohamed Nasheed has asked an Indian chief of naval staff to provide 30 doctors on a temporary basis to the Maldives.
Mohamed Zuhair, the president’s office press secretary, has said the president’s request to Admiral Sureesh Mehta today, to provide doctors was not in any way related to the mass sick leave that was taken yesterday by 15 local doctors at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).
IGMH services were disrupted when 15 doctors went on sick leave; the doctors have said they are not on strike.
Speaking to Minivan News yesterday, a member of the civil service commission, Fahmy Hassan, said as doctors were professionals, the commission was obliged to accept their reasons for failing to turn up to work.
Zuhair too said he did not believe they were on strike. “Indian doctors will work both in IGMH and in different districts throughout the Maldives,” he said.
The Indian doctors, possibly from the Indian navy, he said, were expected to arrive in the Maldives in a week.
“The Indian navy does provide humanitarian aid,” he said. “So, there are capable doctors who can help us.”
Abdul Sattar Ibrahim Manik, IGMH deputy director for public relations, said the 15 doctors were on sick leave again today.
“It has not been as hard or as busy as yesterday,” said Manik, “but a lot of people have complained about the service. We are managing with the help of the existing Indian doctors.”
He said an additional 30 doctors would be helpful if they could be used to fill the “gaps” and added he thought the 15 Maldivian doctors would return to work over the next few days.
“Doctors have two days for sick leave and if they are not present on the third day, they have to produce a medical certificate.”
The doctors who took sick leave were from the following departments: three from Internal, four from Surgery, three from Gynaecology, one from Dermatology, one from Paediatrics, one from Psychiatry and two from Dentistry.
Minivan News contacted several of the doctors on sick leave yesterday, but they refused to comment.
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i wonder if the government authorities will see this. i feel like asking " who are you kidding?" 30 naval doctors cannot replace our precious Maldivian doctors, other wise there wouldn't be so much chaos when doctors fell ill on 24th/25th Feb. there were our foreign colleagues too, they were running the hospital without any hindrance. yet the public complained because they weren't served by Maldivian doctors! that shows how much we care, that shows how much the public love us, that shows how much trust they have in us, 30 replacement or even the who whole Indian army cannot offer the care and love we offer, that shows how much we care!
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