Even with the recent spike in the COVID-19 cases being the worst wave Maldives has seen so far, the only obstacle Maldives faced was the insufficient amount of healthcare workers, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said on Tuesday evening.
To address the nation amidst the stricter restrictions recently placed, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih joined the press conference held in the President's Office, alongside Health Minister Ahmed Naseem and one of the leading doctors on the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), Doctor Nazla Musthofa. This was the first time the President joined a press conference by health officials.
In this press conference, Mihaaru asked about the public complaints regarding delayed healthcare services to COVID patients and whether more people were passing away due to insufficient care. The President said there were enough healthcare supplies to treat the patients in Maldives.
However, he said the only obstacle Maldives was facing was in not having sufficient healthcare workers to attend to the patients.
"We have the facilities. We have ventilators as well. God be willing, we have enough oxygen as well. However we face limitations when it comes to [healthcare] workers," President said.
He said they were working on fixing the shortage.
There are 116 nurses in Hulhumale Medical Facility (HMF). That is a nurse for every 10 patients.
He said from 144 nursing students, 14 students had joined the HMF on Monday. Fifteen more nursing students would start working with HMF within the next two days, he said.
To improve the care provided to patients, a call center was going to be established soon to call the families of the patients. A mental healthcare team has been sent to HMF from the Gender Ministry as well.
Dr. Nazla that joined the press conference also agreed that they were currently facing difficulties in treating patients.
"We agree that there are difficulties we face in Hulhumale' Facility as well. Specially because of the lack of nurses for the patients," she said.
The ICU in HMF, with a bed capacity of 11, was now full, she said.
"If things go like this, there is a chance the death rate may increase. Like you said, we may not be providing enough care then," Dr. Nazla said, noting the death rate was at 0.3 percent at the moment.
In this press conference, the President discussed the stricter measures in effect starting Wednesday.
To control the current surge in COVID positives, the government have placed a lockdown in the Greater Male' Area starting Wednesday. Eight other islands have a 12 hour curfew while the islands under monitoring have shorter curfew placed.
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