MVR 4 million spent to repatriate 168 medical students

National Emergency Operations Center, on Saturday, announced the Maldivian government spent MVR 4 million to repatriate medical students and professionals overseas.

The government had issued a call for medical professionals overseas to return back to Maldives to aid in the national COVID-19 emergency response efforts in March, and soon after, began organizing repatriation operation in collaboration with foreign governments.

At the NEOC press briefing on Saturday night, spokesperson Mabrouq Azeez said 168 medical students in three foreign countries had been repatriated; 63 students in Philippines, 99 in Nepal, and six in Pakistan.

“We spent MVR 4 million to repatriate all these students,” said Mabrouq.

Mabrouq had previously stated that 78 students had already completed mandatory quarantine, and had joined the field.

“A significant number of them are working with us at IGMH, in medical clusters, and within the NEOC.  They are being provided necessary training as we speak,” said Mabrouq, at a NEOC press briefing on Tuesday.

Maldives currently has 2,000 doctors; out of whom 905 are qualified to work in the COVID-19 emergency response efforts. The number of nurses stands at 2,970.

The Maldivian government also brought in teams of medical professionals from Bangladesh, India, and the US to provide training to local medical professionals.

Health authorities have repeatedly warned that if virus cases increase exponentially, the local health system – with its limited resources – will be unable to cater to the surge.

Mabrouq’s assertion that the government spent MVR 4 million to repatriate medical students overseas comes after Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer stated that he had approved the allocation of MVR 223 million towards the COVID-19 emergency response efforts. Ameer said he now estimates the government to have spent MVR 1.6 billion on the efforts.