What will the new year bring?

The year ending tonight has been one which has brought much suffering to many of us, not just because of illness, but a lot because of the great many inadequacies in our health system. The cost of human loss cannot be quoted in currency, but the cost of poor health, illnesses and neglect of a system would be beyond comprehension.

Minister Ilyas has failed to deliver an improvement to the health system worth anything more than a few name boards labeled "Health Center" or "Atoll Hospital". His team at the Ministry has managed to hold back the health care standard of the country at the same place as was at a decade earlier. The medical people with him, Dr Abdula Azeez Yousuf, Dr Sheena and Dr Ahmed Razee have done little more than draw 3-4 salaries per month!!!

The truly sick in the islands, die at the hands of either incompetent health care providers or a competent provider rendered incompetent by an inadequate health care infrastructure. We are witness to the desperate cries of those who have been left to tend for themselves, we are among them ourselves.

Our premier health institution, IGMH, has won not our hearts, but our anger and hatred for its display of contempt with our needs and wishes. It is little wonder that IGMH has had within its premises mob violence disrupt its services and physical assault cause injuries to staff. The failings of the administration and the inability of it high ranked officials to discharge their responsibilities were at least partly responsible for these events. Deaths, medical negligence, maltreatment and all sorts of medical errors at the institution have made their ways to the news headlines. It speaks volumes about the intentions of the management of the hospital when 2 doctors were suspended for voicing concerns about malpractices happening within the Hospital. Dr Mohamed Solih, Dr Fathmath Ali Didi, Dr Yasir and Ali Mohamed (Alibe') are responsible for the sickening state of affair at IGMH.

Can we expect anything different in the new year? Realistically the chances of that are very little. The system headed by the same individuals from the very top to the middle management level are corrupt, incompetent, selfish and untrustworthy.

One thing will be different though! We will be less tolerant of their criminal handling of our welfare in the coming year. We pledge that we will do all that we can to make sure that we hold them accountable to the people of this country. We have all suffered enough. We deserve better. We demand better.

No oxygen in health centers and hospitals

A sick newborn transfered from Gn. Fuvahmulah Atoll Hospital to S. Hithadhoo Regional Hospital bacause of lack of oxygen at the former health facility. [Translation; Minivan Daily]

This report was very concerning. We alerted our team to do a quick investigation and below are our findings.

The story is factual. The baby was transfered to HRH (Hithadhoo Regional Hospital) because baby was having respiratory distress and the oxygen supply at Fuahmulah Atoll Hospital was running out. Our affiliates at HRH confirm that the baby was received at the regional hospital and that the baby is improving.

On a more concerning note though, we can confirm that the lack of oxygen is a problem across all government health facilities including IGMH. Our affiliates within IGMH confirm that apart from a few cylinders, IGMH is running very low on oxygen.

STO and Maldive gas are the suppliers of oxygen to IGMH and DMS (Department of Medical Services). Apparently a financial conflict between the suppliers and the institutions is responsible for the grave situation. Overdue invoices and mismanagement of stock maintenance has put the health of many of our most vulnerable in jeopardy. Jazeera Daily is the only local paper to report on this issue.

As Dr Yasir was unavailable for comment, we tried to call Dr Solih (Executive Director General, IGMH) to inquire about the situation. As custom, his phone was also in silent mode! We were told that Alibe' (Director General, IGMH) was the next in command at IGMH. He and 2 other senior executive, we were told were unavilable at this time, as they were at the Peoples Majlis.

In the atolls, the situatation is different at different centers. At most places there was no oxygen available anyway, because they never had any. However, at most of the health centers report that they have enough oxygen (some reportedly have one extra cylinder on standby! That is 2 cylinders in total).

If the situation does not improve over the next day or so, we will see patients being transfered abroad for oxygen! "Patients in IGMH ICU are high risk of oxygen deprived brain injury in the next 48hrs if things do not improve" said one staff working there. It is a scary thought and a scandalous statement and she may be right too.

The incompetence, corruption, mismanagement and poor planning at IGMH, MoH.....across the board in our health services is putting our lives at risk.