Maldives is one of the most sought-out tourism spots among the South Asian Countries. With their healthcare sector still at the early stages of development, this gives way to a lot of opportunities for foreign investors & any emerging private company to make their investments, which would facilitate the growth & efficiency in the provision of better healthcare services. Are you keen on knowing about the investment needs in Maldives Healthcare Sector? Wouldn’t you like to know about the impact of such healthcare investments for both the investors and the public alike?
Through this article, Hospacxx Healthcare Consultancy presents to you, important details about the needs for investments in the healthcare sector of Maldives, along with the possible consequences for such investments.
CURRENT HEALTHCARE SECTOR IN MALDIVES
The healthcare system in Maldives comprises of a three-tier system with island level primary care centers, a higher level of health facilities with respect to provision of maternal, newborn care and specialty care at an atoll/regional level and tertiary care at a central/regional level. As per the criteria for the Health for All Goals and the Millennium Development Goals, the Maldivian Government had taken effective measures to ensure that the Maldivian population, though unequally scattered within the islands, have easy access to basic quality healthcare services by the following means: –
- Increase in the amount of healthcare fund by the Maldivian Government, to about 9% of the country’s GDP, to cover for the high public health expenditure.
- Establishment of Community health centres and public hospitals in adequate numbers that provide Secondary & tertiary healthcare services, with the necessary equipment & adequately skilled staff like doctors, nurses & Village health workers, especially in majority of the primary health centres.
- Universal Health Coverage for all the Maldivian Citizens to avail primary care services and certain specialized healthcare services from facilities located in their homeland or in foreign countries if it is not available in Maldives.
- According to a report by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, since Obstetric emergencies was one of the key factors for deaths or maternal mortality, stringent measures were taken to facilitate provision of Antenatal, Perinatal & Postnatal services for mothers and babies, along with malnutrition and immunization services for children, which was mandatorily provided in all primary health centres and few public hospitals.
In spite of such changes in the healthcare system, it was still observed that there was an overall inefficiency in the functioning of healthcare centres and thus, delivery of poor quality healthcare services. Key factors determining the lack of quality and effectiveness in the Maldivian healthcare service delivery are: –
- a) Inadequate availability of resources, wherein there is scarcity in the availability of the necessary advanced equipment, medications and skilled manpower due to high importing costs and increased turnover of skilled medical professionals. Due to the increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases like Diabetes, cancers, respiratory diseases etc. the healthcare centres lack the specific equipment & medications, majority of which are imported at an expensive price, but yet, an utmost need to provide the best treatment for such specialty
- b) Non-availability of Specialized care like preventive care services & surgical care. According to Health Statistics of 2020, it was observed that the majority of medical services that were utilized in Maldivian hospitals were for General Medicine & General surgery and for specialty services like Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Pediatrics and Orthopedics. While the rest of the specialty & super specialty Health services are used in foreign countries for its advanced quality & affordability. As a result of this, majority of Maldivian prefer to avail the treatment services from foreign countries like India, Singapore and many others, due to the provision of Universal health Coverage by the Maldivian Government for Medical treatment overseas. According to a study, overseas medical treatment represented a substantial economic burden to the Maldives in terms of lost consumer spending in the local economy and disastrous health spending by households. About forty eight percent of the cost was spent on travel, while Twenty six percent was spent on direct medical costs, which were markedly higher among patients subsidized by the government than self-funded patients.
- c) Lack of proper transportation for better access to Secondary or tertiary care. Due to the location of all the referral centres far apart from the surrounding islands, transportation from primary healthcare centres becomes difficult due to improper roadway route and inadequate number of boats, with less preference for patients to travel across the shores.
Hence, these factors made the Maldivian Government to create new investment opportunities for private companies or foreign investors, that could help facilitate the healthcare sector to progress in the following manner: –
- Growth of Medical Tourism: Tourism is the main economic trade and the highest contributor for Maldives economic growth till today. With investments made into Maldives healthcare sector through enhancements into the resources for their primary health centres, establishment of wellness resorts and private hospitals with latest advancements in medical technology, equipment and efficiently-skilled manpower. It can be predicted that Maldives’s healthcare sector will grow at a rapid extent, not only through increased rate of utilization of their healthcare facilities by the public, but also it can emerge as a sector that promotes Medical Tourism, with quality healthcare services, as per the International Healthcare Standards and at comparatively affordable prices for all general & specialty care.
- Growth of Digitalization in Healthcare: According to a report by WHO (Maldives), since the incidence of COVID 19, digitalized systems were introduced in order to limit encounters with service providers and for rapid response to detection, tracking and recording of health data and other patient-related information by healthcare providers. Thereby, digitalization of health services is proving to be an immense scope for investments in potential growth of equitable delivery of standardized quality health services through better accessibility of doctor’s consultations through tele-consultation, with development & implementation of Web-based mobile apps that help in more efficient data collection for surveillance and better tracking of patient’s health status.
- Availability & accessibility of better-quality healthcare services: With more investments through FDI’s or from private companies, there will be provision of better-quality healthcare services through a better facilitation in the availability, affordability & equal accessibility of facilities like advanced biomedical equipment for diagnostic services, essential medications, Clinical infrastructure and well-experienced & skilled healthcare professionals.
According to the report from Invest Maldives, the Government of Maldives invites private sector participation in the development of the health sector. In addition to the development of specialized health facilities, the government also seeks to build and develop fully functional tertiary hospitals in the Regional Urban Centres, national ambulance services, smart, digitally connected health services and the proliferation of alternative forms of medical practices.
CONCLUSION
Maldives is progressing to the land with many opportunities for investments, which would help the healthcare sector in an immense way to emerge as a growing contributor to the country’s economy.
Hospacxx Healthcare Consultancy provides their expertise across Indian & International states in services like Planning & designing with project management consultancy, Operations Management consultancy, financial management and more. For more information, you can visit the company website on www.hospaccxconsulting.com or contact us directly
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