The Minister of Health, Family and Social Cohesion, Geela Ali, has announced that the government has commenced work to establish a Level 2 Medical Unit, enabling post-mortem services to be provided in the Maldives for the first time.
The Minister revealed this in the People's Majlis, while responding to a question posed by the Member of Parliament for the Galolhu North constituency, Mohamed Ibrahim.
Initiated by the Malé City Group of Hospitals, this project will provide essential forensic services not only to the Malé region but to the entire country. These services include:
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Clinical forensic and medico-legal services.
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Investigation of sexual and physical abuse cases.
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Examination of inhumane torture and injuries sustained by detainees.
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Assessment of injury severity for legal insurance purposes.
"Through this unit, forensic examinations will be conducted on bodies to determine the cause of death in legally disputed cases, alongside investigations into sexual and physical abuse." — Minister of Health, Geela Ali
The land required to launch this service has already been allocated. Furthermore, work is currently underway to draft and gazette the Forensic Pathology Regulations before the unit is fully established. The government's primary goal is to introduce this service to the Maldives through a robust system that commands full public trust.
Although provisions regarding the delivery of post-mortem services in the Maldives have been stated in the law since 2015, no administration over the past 10 years has successfully established the service within the country.
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Over the past 10 years, 23 bodies had to be sent abroad for post-mortems.
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To obtain this service from abroad, the state had to spend an average of MVR 55,000 per person each time.
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