8,722 patients consult doctors in Maldives on the daily: Health Ministry

An average of 8,722 patients consult doctors in the Maldives everyday, with women contributing to the figures most, revealed data published by the Ministry of Health.

According to the ministry's statistics released today, this is the average daily consultation count for government hospitals, health centres and private facilities from last year.

It detailed that 61,222 visits were recorded weekly while 265,298 visits were recorded on a monthly basis.

The data also revealed that most consultations were recorded from hospitals and health centres within the atolls, and that these figures go up to 1,741,830. In Malé, this figure was at 1,441,738.

Additionally, 95 percent of the patients were locals, accounting for 3,039,348 visits while foreigners contributed to 144,229 visits reaching just five percent.

According to statistics, women consulted more than eight times a year while men consulted more than five times a year.

Looking at specialties of these consultations, the most frequent visits were to gynecologists and obstetricians, with 99 percent of them being women. Men who consulted gynaecologists went in for fertility related issues, the data also showed.

The second most number of consultations were for internal medicine related purposes.

When it came to paediatric consultations, boys were seen by doctors more than girls.

Statistics from the general surgery departments show 51 percent of patients were male, while men also consulted cardiologists the most, accounting for 58 percent while women contributed to 42 percent of consultations.

Meanwhile, psychiatric consultation data showed 54 percent of patients were women, while women also accounted for the majority of consultations in the general out patient department.

Despite concerns from the authorities about the increase in mental problems in Maldives, according to the Ministry of Health, the number of people who received psychological treatment is not high. Psychotherapy was one of the few treatments sought by men last year within the Allied Health consultation, accounting for only six percent.

Speech therapy was the most common treatment for men in that category at 40 percent. Following that, 35 percent of patients sought spectacle prescriptions, with occupational therapy accounting for 14 percent and dietician consultations being at five percent.

Women also sought eye-glasses prescriptions the most, being at 45 percent while speech therapy came in second at 25 percent. Dietician and psychiatric consultations were both at 11 percent while occupational therapy accounted for eight percent.

Women also consulted for dental services the most during this time.

Before that, in 2022, there were 7,672 daily doctor visits to government and private hospitals/clinics. Data shows that this totalled to 53,851 times per week and 233,355 times per month.

Even that year, the highest number of visits were to hospitals and health centres within the islands, coming off to 1,525,712 times while the number was 1,274,550 consultations in Malé.

That year, women consulted eight times annually while men consulted four times a year, according to the data.

According to the Ministry, in 2022, the highest number of consultations were recorded in the gynaecology and fertility speciality with internal specialty coming in second. Orthopedic problems were the third most consulted for services that year.

Even in 2022, male patients accounted most for cardiac and paediatric consultations, while psychiatric services were not amongst the top ten most sought for consultations that year.

However, while women accounted for 55 percent of all specialist consultations, men contributed for the remaining 45 percent.

Unlike last year, speech therapy was also the top allied health consultation sought by men the year before. That is at 37 percent. The second most sought services was spectacles prescriptions, while 14 percent of men received occupational therapy and 12 percent received psychological therapy.

That year, women mostly consulted to get spectacles prescriptions, which was at 44 percent. Speech therapy was taken by 19 percent and psychological therapy by 17 percent. Fourteen percent of women saw dietitians and six percent saw occupational therapists.

Women also sought treatment the most for dental issues.