Maldives to hire health professionals

The government on Sunday approved a draft agreement for sending qualified health professionals to the Maldives from Bangladesh.

The approval came in a virtual cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Cabinet secretary Khandakar Anowarul Islam said in a press briefing. Under the agreement, Maldives would hire qualified health professionals, clinical specialists, public health specialists, dental surgeons, nurses and other auxiliary staff, he said.

Besides, a proposal of prisoner exchange agreement got cabinet nod and a draft law of Ayurvedic and Yunani medicine education was approved in principal.

Bangladesh had an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a long time through which healthcare workers used to go to the Maldives, cabinet secretary said, adding that, “Now, the country wants to extend the MoU till 2024 by turning it into an agreement,”

The agreement will ensure legal bindings while in the case of the previous MoU, there was no such obligations, he stated.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina is set to visit the Maldives on December 22 in a bid to boost bilateral relations with the South Asian country.

Currently, more than 1 lakh Bangladeshis, mostly workers, live in the island country of the north-central Indian Ocean. On the other hand, many students from Maldives are staying in Bangladesh for educational purpose.