President's Office has informed Health Minister Abdulla Ameen of their decision to dissolve Addu City Hithadhoo Regional Hospital.

A letter sent to the Minister by the President's Office noted that the Equatorial Hospital in Addu City is a tertiary hospital, hence all services that are currently being given through Hithadhoo Regional Hospital will be shifted to the new one.

The letter then requested to proceed with moving the equipment, services and employees to the new hospital.

Addu Equatorial Hospital is developed through the Saudi Fund for Development and OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and cost about MVR 171 million. The hospital contains 100 beds, and will become the second tertiary hospital in the Maldives.

The hospital was initially slated for a September 2019 opening but the date was later pushed to December 15 due to delays in development. The opening has once again been delayed as there still were finishing touches to be made.

Addu Equatorial Hospital will house a large operation theatre, an emergency theatre, a cardiology department, a radiology and physiotherapy department, a dialysis unit, an endoscopy department along with a psychiatric department and ward. In addition to this, it also contains a NICU and four isolation wards along a morgue.

Services such as speech therapy, dental surgery and eye laser surgeries will also be available through the hospital.