Aasandha company said on Wednesday that discussions have started with Thailand and UAE, widely believed to be leading medical care providers at a relatively high cost, to provide healthcare services to Maldivians under Aasandha.
In a statement, the company said since President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has decided to extend Aasandha services to Thailand and the UAE, they are working on the task with other relevant agencies.
President Muizzu, who arrived back to Maldives on Saturday after a recent state visit to China, said he did not want to make Aasandha, the government-funded free medical system, a service only available by going to medical facilities in a particular country. Therefore, Aasandha services will be extended to more quality countries, he said.
In his speech, the President referred to Thailand and the UAE.
"... We will expand our Aasandha to include accommodation expenses when [patients] go there. We will continue to develop the health facilities in this country, and in the meantime, we will be able to cover the healthcare needs of this country with better quality hospitals like those in Dubai and Bangkok with accommodation expenses," he said.
"We will make these arrangements for the people of the country."
On reports in some sections of the media that Aasandha company was reluctant to send patients to countries other than India and Sri Lanka, the press release said that the remarks were made in the SEO committee of parliament on December 12 last year, in which the statements made by Managing Director of Aasandha was taken out of context.
The Aasandha company said that when its Managing Director had said otherwise at the time, the government had not announced its decision to expand Aasandha to more countries. However, the Aasandha company pointed out that the government had announced it since then.
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