On thalassamia healthcare services

I talked about this during my campaign as well, about establishing a state-of-the-art thalassemia care facility or hospital in Maldives. We have done a lot of work for this and with the will of Allah, we are going to start implementation work soon.

After what happened the other night and learning about the frustrations and concerns, I visited [Maldives Blood Services] to see what is going on and in reality, there are a lot of things that need to be improved. I decided immediately on the actions that need to be taken. I found everything in detail including from the concerns submitted in writing by patients and their parents. I have decided these things to solve these issues. Over the past two days, a lot of these concerns have been addressed.

One of the concerns was about management, that there is no civil servant in charge of running things. The information I have is that since 2017 this position is vacant, despite announcements. So, I was instructed to find someone already working at the director general level in government who is qualified to manage it and interact with patients. We have done that because there is no need for an announcement when shifting someone from an existing posting.

Another concern is lack of nursing staff. Now the finance ministry has arranged the budget and announced to hire five registered nurses. This will lighten the workload for the existing staff and they will be able to give more focused and caring service.

What I said was that I did not know that these concerns had not been attended to and improvements had not been made. During the campaign, I met them [thalassaemia patients and parents] and based on that, I also made pledges. I had assigned the task of solving these issues. In all honesty, I did not know that the services were this bad or that it had not improved. I know about the issues. I meant that I was not aware that these concerns had not been addressed to this day.

The other thing is equipment and facilities. We have already allocated funding for the testing equipment. The state of the building is also in really bad shape. There is a facility in Hulhumalé that was used during Covid times, Orange Hiyaa, we have got a spacious floor from there to relocate the centre. But the work is not completed even halfway. So I immediately assigned the work to the soldiers. The contract for this work had expired, so I decided not to renew it and hand it over to the soldiers to be done as a national duty. The soldiers have started this work with a plan to finish it in a month by the end of April. I have also instructed that all the work of shifting the facility should go smoothly. Since it is in Hulhumalé and a lot of people from Malé also needs this service, we have decided that by the time this work is complete MTCC will add a bus stop close by, so it is easier to get there and thalassemia patients and parents can use this service for free.

On Ramadan handouts

I believe in Maldives, as we are a 100 percent Muslim nation, the government should give priority to make things easier and lighter for the people during Ramadan. Last year we gave a special discount on water and electricity tariffs and this year as well we are doing that. Last year we gave a sack of rice to each household. This time we arranged cases of tuna cans. Canned tuna is used widely during Ramadan and other times too. I have some statistics. A total 111,808 cases of tuna were handed out, that is 61,909 cases in the atolls and 49,809 cases handed out in Malé. The handouts started a bit chaotically in Malé but this was not the case in the atolls. During that weekend we sorted it out and then things went smoothly.

You have to worship always, but Ramadan is a month of worship and prayer. Which is why in some years, official working hours start at 9am or 10am, so people can spend time in prayer during the night, be able to get some sleep and come into work. It is clear in the religion that a special attention must be given to increasing prayer and worship during the last 10 days of the month. As I said earlier, this is a 100 percent Muslim nation and I want the government to directly make things easier so we can follow the path of Islam. I see it as a responsibility, a matter of pride and pleasure to champion Islam in the Maldives. So when we declare the last 10 days of Ramadan as holidays, people can spend the whole night or whatever part of the night to pray and worship. When you have to attend work in the morning, you might not be able to engage in prayer and worship during the night, that is why I have given this opportunity. God willing, during my term, every Ramadan will be like this.

This year, the shifting of the academic calendar has coincided Ramadan with the school holidays. But, I have also advised the education minister to find a way to close schools for the whole month of Ramadan, in a way that school hours and time is not lost.

On tobacco control

I started this work of tobacco control with a very noble purpose. It is not to affect the lifestyles of people or to force them to make expensive purchases. I know that it is very addictive and not just in Maldivians, but among humanity. So to encourage people to distance themselves from this habit, the price of cigarettes or duty prices were increased and vape has been banned. The purpose is to get away from [smoking] and to increase our health. God willing, our public health will only get better.

I took a big step [in banning vape and cigarette duty hikes], but step by step, here I want to say and in the future we will announce details about this. I will take steps to [enact] a generation ban, or measures to stop young people from getting into smoking. Those people that are addicted now are older, but those under the age of 18 should be encouraged not to do it and I am going to take action on this. In some other countries, this has already been done and we are working on this.

On the mandatory foreign exchange requirement

We started with a regulation and now we have a law. According to the law, the tourism industry and others who report revenue in US dollars have to exchange with local banks. Since January, approximately US$ 150 million has been exchanged with the banks by the tourism industry. This is an increase of 40 percent when compared to exchanges made with local banks earlier. So it is very good. We have a compliance rate of about 95 percent of the establishments that have to follow the law. For the remaining five percent, MMA is working with them. We will enforce the law. God willing, they will also comply. We have cooperation [from the sector]. So as the sector develops and improves, we will be able to do the things we pledged, like increasing US dollar exchange for travellers from US$ 500 to US$ 1000 – we have announced a date for this, doubling the credit card limit and increasing TT limits.

It will take some time to sort out [the foreign exchange black market]. State-owned enterprises also had to buy from the black market. We have managed to stop this to a large extent. By mid-year, SoEs won’t buy from this so-called parallel market or black market. That will drop the rate by a big percentage. In the future the dollar exchange rates will drop.

On food security

It would not be a good thing to introduce a new subsidy. Our policy is to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables by making produce cheaper. For one thing, to ensure food security we have started some projects. This includes producing fruits and vegetables that can be grown in the Maldives and we have set a target of production that should be enough to cater to our population. So instead of importing, when we produce it here, it will bring the prices down. The other thing is through STO, we are working on bringing in widely used fruits and vegetables, so that it is available at better prices. This is also something that can be done. It is important to eat fruits and vegetables everyday, but because of expensive prices, people cannot buy them. These are things we have thought of and details will be shared as we develop it.

On ATMs

Anyone who understands the happiness of the people of an island when an ATM is set up, will understand how important this is. By the end of this year, all inhabited islands will have BML ATMs. This is not against digitalization. Digitalization is a key policy of this government. But while this is going on, it is very important for people to be able to access physical cash, especially in smaller islands. 

On pledges for fishers

During this year, we’ll make at least one [diesel supply outlet] in every atoll. As a result, fishermen especially, and everyone overall, will get oil cheaply.  

[From December 10 to the present] about MVR 385 million (US$ 25 million) have been provided today, with day-to-day payments. 

On development and infrastructure projects

Developing a children’s park on every island will be completed within two years – this year and next year. [...] a fitness centre will be made on every island within these two years, within this year and next year.

With this year and next year, a lot of things will be completed on all islands, they are now beginning. Even during this holiday, during the last 10 [days of Ramadan] as well, we have been working, employees are working – more than 550 projects, as I said stalled projects and projects that need to begin this year, have now been signed. God willing, these things will begin during the month and next month.