The National Cardiac Centre at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this July, having treated more than 50,000 patients and performed thousands of cardiac procedures under the Aasandha universal health insurance scheme.
The centre became the Maldives' first formal cardiology department when it was established on 1 July 2016 through a partnership between the government and a team from Meditrina Hospital in India. The initiative was spearheaded by Dr Ali Shafeeq, the country's first cardiologist, with the aim of reducing the need for patients to travel overseas for treatment.
Over the past decade, the National Cardiac Centre has become one of the most successful specialised units under IGMH, recording more than 50,000 outpatient consultations.
Its procedural record includes 10,000 coronary angiograms, more than 6,000 coronary angioplasties, over 1,200 primary angioplasties for acute myocardial infarction, and more than 20,000 echocardiograms.
These achievements have established the centre as the country's primary provider of cardiac care, with heart disease remaining one of the most commonly treated conditions under the Aasandha scheme.
Speaking at the anniversary ceremony, the Head of the National Cardiac Centre, Dr Mohamed Shaneez Najmee, reflected on the centre's progress over the past decade.
“After ten years, we decided to move to another level with the help of management. We have worked hard to strengthen patient care in the past. Now we are working to strengthen the system,” he said.
He noted that the centre now provides almost all cardiac services required in the Maldives and has earned the confidence of the public, while only a small number of highly specialised procedures remain unavailable.
Among the services yet to be introduced at the centre, open-heart surgery remains the most significant. Although a private hospital in Malé has begun performing such procedures, the National Cardiac Centre aims to introduce open-heart surgery under Aasandha coverage.
A new catheterisation laboratory has already been established at IGMH, and plans are underway to develop the additional facilities required to provide comprehensive cardiac surgery services. The hospital expects to introduce these advanced services in the near future.
The centre has also significantly expanded its workforce. Beginning with a single Maldivian cardiologist, it now has six locally trained cardiologists, with the department entirely staffed by Maldivian healthcare professionals.