Policy Secretary at President's Office Aminath Shauna says revising the national health care insurance scheme, Aasandha, is an important objective of the administration.
Speaking at the press conference after the second day of the National Conference on Revitalising Public Health, Shauna said Aasandha is amongst the high-cost institutions of the state, and a better mechanism is essential to ensure a sustainable provision of public health insurance. She highlighted the administration is currently dealing directly with the hospitals in foreign countries to provide medical insurance for Maldivians, after leaving the practice of employing agencies to manage the service.
The policy secretary said the administration has also made efforts to align the price of medicine available in all islands in the country. She added the government is working to make health an all-inclusive sector catering to all islands, regardless of the size of the population.
Health professionals, organisations and government officials participating in the three-day conference discussed the national health care insurance scheme and the management of health sector expenditure. The topics on the second day of the conference included discussions on promoting and financing health sector. Other topics discussed in the conference include mitigating the challenges the state face in addressing national health issues and formulating health policies, in addition to health concerns in running development projects.
The participants also suggested carrying out health impact assessments similar to Environment Impact Assessments (EIA) in running development projects.