Arrangements have been made to provide Aasandha for medical treatment abroad based on the patient's condition, even for treatments that are available in the Maldives.

An amendment brought yesterday to the regulations governing the administration of the Aasandha Scheme stated that Aasandha can be granted to travel abroad by taking into account the type of illness, the individual's condition, difficulties in obtaining treatment even if it is available in the Maldives, and other surrounding circumstances.

Patients can only be sent in this manner to overseas hospitals empaneled in the Aasandha Scheme. It also noted that assistance can be granted from the scheme even if the treatment is a service not registered under Aasandha.

Until now, referrals under the scheme were only given to seek treatments unavailable in the Maldives. However, with the newly introduced change, patients can be sent abroad based on their condition.

According to how the regulation stood previously, permission to refer to another facility could only be granted to service providers registered under the Aasandha Scheme that have specialist doctors for the respective illness.

However, the newly brought amendment states that permission to refer will be given to service providers registered to provide services under the Aasandha Scheme where specialist doctors for the respective illness are stationed. Nevertheless, in situations where a specialist doctor for the illness is not available in that particular atoll or island, permission to refer may be granted by a doctor authorized by the company.