As we prepare for our 21st visit to the Maldives, we aren’t getting any younger. Now in our mid-sixties, battling an incessant array of health issues seems to be a new avocation in this chapter of our lives. So we are more empathetic to the prospective visitors who enquire about the access to emergency medical care (eg. parents with very young children, or anyone with a long-term health condition). Most (at least 5 star) resorts have resident doctors. For those looking for more extensive medical facilities, the conventional answer in the past would be to look at the Male atoll properties for ready access to the country’s main hospital in Male. But in recent years, tourism-funded growth has funded hospitals in many of the big atolls:
- Health care facilities in Maldives are ameliorating on a daily basis. The Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Male’ is the biggest hospital in Maldives furnishing advanced medical care. Besides the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Male’ there is ADK Hospital which is one of the biggest private healthcare establishments in the Maldives. It is having fifty (50) bed private tertiary acute care hospital, furnishing a wide ambit of medical and surgical facilities for the total management of patients situated in the capital city of Maldives – Male’. In addition to these healthcare hospitals in Male’, there are four regional hospitals situated in the north, south and the central parts of Maldives to provide the best and quality health care services in the rural population of Maldives. The four regional hospitals of Maldives are Hithadhoo located in Addu Atoll of southern atolls, Haa Dhaalu Kulhuduffushi, Raa Atoll Ungoofaaru in northern atolls and Meemu Atoll Muli (central atolls)
When we visited Jumeirah Dhevanafushi (now Raffles Meradhoo), the GM highlighted the proximity of the Gaafu ALifu hospital to the island and the fact that the GM had met with the hospital to coordinate care protocols if a guest needed medical attention. While notable, I didn’t think this distinctive measure quite merited its own “Best of the Maldives” post, but I thought it would be good to call out those resorts closest to each of the major atoll hospitals:
- Male (Male) – Kurumba (3 km)
- Hithadhoo (Addu) – Equator Village (10km – but all on land)
- Kulhuduffushi (Haa Dhaalu) – Barefoot (15 km – coming)
- Ungoofaaru (Raa) – Loama at Maamagili (14 km)
- Muli (Meemu) – Medhufushi (3km)
