Minister of Health, Family and Welfare Geela Ali has stated that efforts are underway to establish a medical unit capable of providing post-mortem services in the Maldives.

Responding to a question raised by MDP MP for the Galolhu Uthuru constituency Mohamed Ibrahim at today's sitting of the People's Majlis regarding the ongoing work to establish post-mortem services in the Maldives, the Minister stated that the "Malé City Group of Hospitals," in collaboration with relevant authorities, has begun work to establish a Level 2 forensic medical unit in the country for the first time.

"Once this unit is established, it will pave the way to fully provide clinical forensic services and medico-legal post-mortem services required for the Malé region as well as the entire Maldives through a robust system."

The Minister stated that the main services provided by this unit will include examining bodies to determine the cause of death in legally contested cases, as well as investigating cases of sexual and physical abuse.

Furthermore, the unit will provide services to investigate inhumane treatment and abuse inflicted on individuals in custody, as well as assessing the extent of injuries suffered by a person for judicial and insurance purposes.

The Minister noted that both the budget required to carry out the project to establish this unit and the land needed to set up these services have already been acquired.

Highlighting that forensic investigations and post-mortem services are highly sensitive matters connected to public emotions, the Minister stated that the cases previously sent abroad from the Maldives for post-mortems were also linked to sensitive medico-legal issues.

"Therefore, we must prepare in advance to establish such a service and take important, robust steps in a sustainable manner. Such a service should only be introduced in the Maldives once all the resources and arrangements necessary to provide the service at the highest quality are complete; as such, it is mandatory to formulate the relevant regulation under the Health Services Act."

Consequently, the relevant regulation is currently in the stage of being gazetted, the Minister added.

The Minister stated that, looking at statistics from the past 10 years, 23 bodies were sent abroad for post-mortems. Regarding the expenses incurred to obtain this service from abroad, she noted that it cost MVR 55,000 per person to send a body to Trivandrum, India, to conduct a post-mortem.