President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has announced plans to dissolve the Malé City Group of Hospitals and establish the Maldives Tertiary Hospitals Group as part of efforts to strengthen the country's healthcare system and reduce costs.

Speaking during the sixth episode of Nation Chat, a podcast series produced by Public Service Media (PSM), the President said the restructuring would eliminate duplication across the healthcare sector, accelerate service delivery and improve operational efficiency.

Under the new structure, all government tertiary hospitals, along with hospitals being developed to tertiary-level standards, will be brought under a single administrative framework.

President Muizzu said the unified structure would facilitate resource sharing and enable medical specialists to be deployed more efficiently between hospitals.

The practical implementation of the hospital integration process is scheduled to begin in November and is expected to take between three and four months.

Emphasizing that the initiative was not intended to increase staffing, the President said the new system would establish arrangements to ensure that the government makes full use of the services of doctors whose education and training are funded by the state.

He added that the restructuring would also create greater opportunities to retain highly specialised foreign doctors in the Maldives and expand access to specialist medical services.

Highlighting ongoing efforts to establish tertiary hospitals across different parts of the country and upgrade regional hospitals and island health centres, the President said the government's primary objective was to ensure that people could access quality healthcare more conveniently in their own regions.

He added that improving local access to advanced medical services would also reduce the need for Maldivians to travel abroad for treatment.