Minister of Health Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim has stated that inpatients at all regional and tertiary hospitals across the Maldives will have access to medicines from their respective health facilities before the end of the ongoing year.

Addressing the challenges in accessing medicines, Minister Nazim stated that, as part of ongoing efforts to improve availability, the State Trading Organization (STO) has imported a record quantity of medicines into the Maldives.

Highlighting that the results of efforts to resolve difficulties in obtaining medicines have been positive, Minister Nazim said that additional efforts are being carried out to ensure a continuous supply of medicines through this system. He added that the goal is to establish an arrangement where citizens can easily obtain medicines without complaints.

As such, Nazim also said that the current work involves arranging for inpatients to receive medicines through the hospital system.

The minister stated that work is underway to arrange for inpatients at all regional and tertiary hospitals in the Maldives to obtain medicines from their respective health facilities before the end of this year. He added that efforts to establish this system in other health facilities are also ongoing.

Despite the health minister’s statements, several members of the public continue to report that medicines are unavailable in both Malé City and across outlying islands. There are significant complaints about the unavailability of medicines for chronic conditions and some pediatric medications.

Further, while Nazim mentioned ongoing efforts to arrange for inpatients to receive medicines through the hospital system, this service was previously provided under the former government. Patients used to receive all necessary medicines from the hospital. However, with the current government's reforms to the national health insurance scheme ‘Aasandha’ services, obtaining medicines has become significantly more difficult, with even inpatients facing issues in receiving their medications. Several citizens also report that doctors often have to change prescriptions multiple times after checking the availability of medicines in the country.