Government Optical Shop Open at Addu Equatorial Hospital

A government-run optical shop and cardiac catheterisation (cath) lab have officially opened at Addu Equatorial Hospital (AEH).

The facilities were inaugurated by Minister of Health Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, in a ceremony attended by the Chief Executive Officer of the Malé City Group of Hospitals, Ibrahim Abdul Razzaq Haleem, and the Chief Executive Officer of AEH, Dr Ibrahim Yasir Ahmed.

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The optical shop and cath lab are the first of their kind in Addu Atoll. The cath lab is expected to reduce the need for residents of Addu City and the southern atolls to travel elsewhere for heart treatments. Tests that are not available at AEH will be conducted in collaboration with private laboratories and Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

The optical shop aims to ease the financial burden on citizens. In the first two months following the opening of the optical facility in Malé City, over 100 customers visited daily, with current daily numbers averaging around 40. To date, a total of 12,988 individuals have sought services at the optical shop, with 12,056 receiving glasses at government expense.

A formal agreement has been signed between IGMH and AEH to manage the operations of both the cath lab and the optical shop.