Maldives to digitalise all public services, starting with education and health

Maldives will digitalise all of its public services in the coming years, said President Dr Mohamed Muizzu last night.

The president's remarks were made to state owned Public Service Media (PSM) following his recent visit to Estonia, one of the most advanced digital societies globally.

After learning about Estonia's advancements and challenges in digitalising the country, President Muizzu hailed Estonia's offer to assist the Maldives in its digitalisation efforts as a key step toward achieving his administration's goals.

Highlighting the health and education sectors, the President said both sectors will be digitalised within the next two to three years, and said he hopes for public cooperation in achieving this feat.

"That's really the most important part of it. The full cooperation of the people and the cooperation of the employees. Either way, there will be some resistance when a change takes place. Since this is a positive change, accepting this will be successful," the president said.

President Muizzu also said that during the rest of this term, Maldives will become a country where all services are offered digitally. These changes taking place in the developing world have to be accepted by Maldivians, he said, adding that it cannot be denied.

"Artificial intelligence plays a very important role. Therefore, an AI masterplan will be developed and AI will play an important role in the development of our country," he said.

The president further said he learned about the use of AI technology in Estonia, and added that one of his main goals is to establish a digital archive instead of using paper in government agencies.

"We want to expand our economy in the digital sector. We have determined that by 2030, the digital economy will account for at least 15 percent of our GDP by improving and developing over the next five years," he said.

President Muizzu's official visit to Estonia was at the invitation of Estonian president Alar Karis, becoming the first Maldivian president to visit the country.

Estonia, having expressed interest in helping to achieve the vision of a 'Digital Maldives' signed relevant MoUs to the effect during the President's visit.