Union calls to allow local agencies to recruit healthcare workers

The Union for Employment Agencies of the Maldives has called on the Health Ministry of the Maldives to provide local recruitment agencies with the opportunity to supply healthcare workers needed to the Maldives. 

A statement issued by the union today read that since 2015 local agencies were allowed to recruit healthcare workers by registering at the Health Ministry, but this was all of a sudden stopped on March 3, 2021. The union condemned the move by the Health Ministry and stated that local agencies were last allowed such recruitments in December of 2020. 

President's Office Spokesperson Mabrouq Azeez stated last night at a press conference at the Health Emergency Operations Center (HEOC) that the country looking to recruit healthcare workers to the Maldives during the current situation with COVID-19 in the Maldives. Mabrouq said that the government was also working to recruit healthcare workers from abroad due to the shortage of resources. 

The union attributed the current shortages of manpower in the health sector due to the awarding of recruitment to just one Indian agency directly. The union said that the move paved the way for corruption since just one Indian agency was allowed to carry out the recruitment process. 

The union also stated that the country and its citizens were directly facing losses due to the Health Ministry not allowing local agencies to carry out recruitment procedures for the shortage of the health sector as of recent times. 

The union, in its statement, expressed concern over the dependency of the Maldives on a single nation for healthcare worker recruitment during the situation in the Maldives and also the dire situation with the virus in India.