Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) has completed the development of a medical facility in Thinadhoo island of Gaaf Dhaal atoll to treat Covid-19 patients.

In a Twitter post on Wednesday night, the contractor of the development project revealed that the emergency Covid-19 facility has been completed and handed over to the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

The company completed the project within 20 days since it was contracted.

The project was mobilized on September 25 and the emergency medical facility is a 22-bed capacity including beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The decision to build the emergency medical Covid-19 facility was provoked after an elderly Covid-19 patient from Thinadhoo was barred from entering Villingili island in Gaaf Alif atoll while he was being transferred to the Covid-19 facility on the island. The Villingili Covid-19 Facility was established as a regional facility.

The patient was barred from entering by a group of locals who were protesting in the harbor region in late August.

The patient was transferred to the capital, Malé City on a chartered seaplane for further treatment.

The incident stirred public outcry and calls for the regional facility to be relocated to another island in the area. Currently, Covid-19 patients from islands in the region are being treated at the 23-ICU-bed capacity facility.

Regional medical facilities were established in five regions in outlying atolls due to the coronavirus pandemic.