Siyam: Aasandha hasn’t benefited health sector, it is being used to steal state funds

The Aasandha health insurance scheme hasn’t benefited the healthcare sector, says Maldives Development Alliance (MDA)’s president and Meedhoo MP Ahmed Siyam Mohamed, adding that he is instead seeing people manipulate the scheme to steal state funds.

During a parliamentary debate on Thursday on the report compiled by the Parliament’s Social Affairs Committee following a review of a bill to amend the Health Services Act, Siyam said that the Maldives’ healthcare sector had “completely failed” over the last 30 years.

Siyam said that the Maldivian people aren’t getting the healthcare services they are entitled to. He said that though the country has hospitals, it lacks doctors and resources.

“People travelling from islands to access hospitals are getting sicker. Their illness isn’t getting alleviated. So, the entire health sector has failed. It is a complete and utter failure,” he said.

Siyam said that though Aasandha is provided to improve the healthcare sector, the service hasn’t been beneficial. He said the healthcare sector must be reformed “from the ground up.”

“Aasandha is provided to improve the health sector. But the provision of Aasandha hasn’t provided us with any benefits. We see numerous parties stealing from the state’s finances with this,” he said.

Velidhoo MP Mohamed Abbas, another lawmaker from MDA, praised the committee’s report. He said the amendments included in the bill were “good amendments, in light of the country’s economic situation.”

Responding to remarks by lawmakers from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Abbas said the actions of the MDP administration – which held office from 2018-2023 – poses questions regarding the sincerity of the party’s lawmakers.

He said the former administration focused on bringing people to the capital, Male’, for healthcare services, while neglecting healthcare facilities in islands.

“These facilities lack staff. They lack the resources to treat even minor cuts to hands and legs. They ended their five-year term by leaving the state bankrupt. By destroying the entire healthcare system,” he said.

The spending on Aasandha has been a sharp rise in recent years. Spending on the scheme increased by 60 percent in the last five years. The spending in 2023 was 40 percent higher than 2018.

The latest statistics show the state had exhausted a large chunk of the MVR 1.9 billion allocated for this year by the end of the second quarter.