IGMH halts all surgeries except emergency ones

Due to large number of dengue patients, Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), the biggest hospital in Malé, has decided to temporarily stop surgeries other than in absolutely necessary and emergency cases. This decision would take effect from tomorrow onwards until next Saturday.

Zeenath Ali Habib, IGMH Media Official said that the decision has been made due to a flood of dengue cases necessitating the direction of the hospital’s full potential towards those patients. She said only emergency surgeries would be performed during the specified period, and that many that had been scheduled have been canceled.

Due to an unusually large number of patients queued at IGMH seeking treatment for dengue, the emergency lobby of the hospital has been temporarily converted into a treatment ward, and preparations have also been made to convert the physiotherapy lab into a dengue treatment ward. Accordingly, all physiotherapy appointments have also been canceled today.

Meanwhile, the special task force created by the President to counter the epidemic spread of the killer-fever is continuously working in Malé and islands to control mosquitoes, the carrier of the deadly dengue virus, and to increase public awareness about the disease and how it can be avoided.