President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has decided to reinstate Aasandha healthcare service, in the same manner it was being provided before its brief suspension on Saturday night.
In a statement released this morning, the President's Office stated that the decision to suspend Aasandha healthcare for inpatient, outpatient, laboratory and scanning services provided at private healthcare facilities was not a decision of the government, but that of the Board of Directors at National Social Protection Agency (NSPA). The statement clarified that the national social health insurance program, Aasandha is not being provided most effectively while the government also received information from some foreign fiscal institutions that there was a leakage in the system.
The decision to suspend Aasandha from private healthcare facilities was made at a board meeting held by NSPA on the 3rd of May to address the issues, according to the President's Office. President's Office maintained that the government did not advice the board to isolate private healthcare facilities.
The national health insurance scheme of the Maldives was introduced on the 1 January 2012.