President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has made two new appointments to the Ministry of Health.
The President's Office revealed Aishath Rasheed was appointed as Minister of State for Health and Abdul Shukoor Abdul Hakeem was appointed as Deputy Minister of Health. The President's Office said both of them were serving in senior posts at the Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services until the appointment to health ministry.
The new appointments have come following the dismissal of two deputy ministers, Nishama Mohamed and Shiyama Mohamed, who were involved in awarding the contract to Dubai-based Executors General Trading to procure ventilators to the Maldives last year.
Moreover, the President's Office also revealed the functions of National Drug Agency (NDA) have been shifted to the health ministry. The functions of NDA were previously overseen by the gender ministry.
NDA was established under the Narcotics Act passed by the Parliament in 2011. The main focus of the law, which also established a specialist court, is to move away from taking a disciplinary approach against small scale drug offences.