Maldives' first Covid-19 related death screams nothing but negligence

Maldives confirmed its first Covid-19 related death early Thursday morning.

Aminath Adam, 83, passed away on Wednesday evening. Her test results came back positive for Covid-19 after her death, late Wednesday night.

While Health Minister Abdulla Ameen confirmed her death at an emergency press conference held shortly after, details of how the case was developed was shared at the Covid-19 daily press conference on Thursday night.

The building in which Aminath was residing was placed under monitoring on April 21, after two drivers who reside “on a different floor of the building” tested positive for Covid-19.

This cluster is to have started with Case 72, an individual who is to have direct contact with another individual that visited the elderly woman. That individual was case 126, a 52 year old Maldivian who tested positive on April 23. The man is to have visited Aminath “on April 14”.

She was identified as “a primary contact” of Case 126 on April 25 and orders are to have been given to take samples for testing on April 27. The samples were taken of the early hours of April 28. They reached the laboratory at Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital for testing at around 5:30am that day.

According to Mabrook, Aminath had a variety of ailments. He said that this includes sleep apnea, diabetes, hypertension and added that there were cases of pneumonia reported in 2019.

While the elderly woman faced breathing difficulties on Wednesday, Mabrook said that they were notified at around 6:15pm and that “a quarantine pathway” was activated and she was immediately rushed to the hospital.

Doctors at the emergency press conference denied that Aminath passed away due to lack of treatment, stressing that there are no known cures for the disease and that as per standard operating procedures “contacts are placed in self-isolation until test results are back”.

Both doctors at the press conference, and the health minister, insisted that there are SOP’s to be followed in dealing with these situations. However, Ameen added that the negligence claims will be investigated and that these procedures “will be changed, if required to”. The Covid-19 spokesperson on Thursday confirmed that an investigation has been launched.

But, can they just point at a list of procedures compiled by them, to justify this?

The building in which she was residing was placed under monitoring on April 21, she was confirmed as a primary contact of a confirmed case on April 25. Aminath had other several health conditions. Being an elderly, her case should have raised red flags from the beginning.

Health experts all over the world, including locals, have reiterated again and again that older adults and individuals with underlying health conditions are at a higher risk of infection as well as developing complications.

So, why had authorities not moved such an immunocompromised individual to isolation or further monitoring given this risk? Why was she not placed under the care of Medical professionals. The public debate on the issue is raging.

What is clear now, is that the special operating procedures on this must be changed, there are no ifs or buts on this. We need to take care of our elders!