National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) CEO Heena Waleed has revealed that the agency has uncovered a huge fraud, where a private company had been billing Aasandha MVR 23,000 for a USD 500 eye injection being imported to the Maldives.

The medication in question is believed to be the 'Lucentis' injection for eye treatment.

A message circulating on Social Media notes that a patient had been informed that the medication is no longer covered under Aasandha, and that the patient will have to spend MVR 24,000 out of pocket to procure the medicine.

Sharing a screenshot of the message on Facebook, Heena said it was an unprecedented example of medical institutions abusing the Aasandha system, raking in huge profits. Heena noted that under the reforms of Aasandha, a price review of the drug was conducted which uncovered that the injection was being billed at MVR 23,000, while the purchase price was at USD 500.

“This is a profit of over MVR 14,000 per injection even if you consider the dollar rate to be at MVR 18,” Heena said.

Heena added that while the drug was registered to be imported by a completely different company, the company did not import the drug at all.

"The healthcare provider sold drugs on prescription without registering to import drugs, but they were the highest biller for the injection under the Aasandha scheme," Heena revealed.

Heena further noted that the agency came to be aware of the fraud during a price review of the drug. She added that they had not been informed of any such issue or price abnormality before even while Aasandha was being billed for a drug that was being imported without the proper registrations with MFDA.

Heena added that she is already taking steps to prevent such incidents and is helping those in need to get the medicine at a controlled price under NSPA welfare assistance.