President Muizzu announces government's decision to construct a mental health hospital in Male', effectively halting all progress on previously planned facility in Gan

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has announced the government's decision to construct a mental health hospital in Male', funded entirely through the state budget.

Speaking at a press conference held at the President's Office on Monday, President Muizzu stated that establishing a specialized mental health hospital remains a key pledge of his administration. He noted that extensive efforts have been underway to secure foreign loans for the project. However, the President explained that due to the lengthy procedures involved in securing international financing, the government has now decided to fund the construction of a mental health hospital in Male' directly through the state budget.

President Muizzu stated that once the loan is finalized, the funds will be allocated to other areas within the healthcare sector, with a final decision to be made following further deliberations. He further noted that while the decision has been made to construct a mental health hospital in Male', the planned hospital in Laamu Atoll will also proceed as originally scheduled.

However, due to the lengthy procedures involved, the approval of the loan has been delayed, preventing this and similar projects from commencing. As this issue has escalated significantly across the country and reached a point where urgent intervention is required, we have now decided to fund the construction of the mental health facility directly through the state budget. This does not mean we will abandon the loan facility once it is finalized; we will make a decision on that later. Our primary focus will be on potentially redirecting those loan funds toward other needs within the health sector. Nevertheless, before finalizing that decision, we have prioritized moving forward with this project using the government budget, under the space allocated for New Policy Initiatives in this year's budget.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu

Referring to mental health issues, President Muizzu stated that between January 1 and April 24 of this year, 8,125 individuals in Male' sought treatment for mental illnesses through the national health insurance scheme, Aasandha.

While President Muizzu has announced plans to establish a specialized mental health hospital in Male', he had previously decided to build a mental health facility in L. Gan, replacing the cancer hospital project initiated by former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration. However, no practical work has been undertaken on this project to date.