The Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Dr. Mohamed Muizzu released a statement confirming that the construction of Addu's new hospital comprising of 100 beds is fully complete, whilst noting that the establishment is still lacking in necessary medical equipment.
The hospital is located at the Equatorial Convention Centre (ECC) where the former President Mohamed Nasheed held the SAARC Summit during his presidency. President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom made the decision to convert the convention centre to a hospital on November 14, handing the project to Alia Investments (Pvt) Ltd.
The project was undertaken by Alia Investments after the Saudi Fund for Development and OPEC Fund for International Development decided to release a loan worth of 161.8 million Rufiyaa.
As the deadline set for May approached, the parties agreed to complete the hospital project and hand over to the government within a period of 18 months. However, the government previously declared that the hospital would be complete and planned to open its doors to the citizens of Addu between June and July, complete with medical services as yet unavailable even to the greater Male region.
According to Muizzu, the Ministry of Finance and Treasury had announced an open bid seeking to acquire the necessary equipment on October 2017.
During his visits to Addu City, former president Nasheed also observed the ongoing work of the new hospital. According to Nasheed, it would be wrong to convert the ECC hospital that was built by President Yameen back to its former state.
“I firmly believe that we should put all our effort into the continuation of this hospital project,” said Nasheed in his speech at Feydhoo in Addu Atoll.
“None of us would benefit if we choose to abandon a project that has progressed this far”, he said.
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