Dr. Samad to become Health Minister?

There are speculations that Health Minister Dr. Aminath Jameel will resign from her post soon and prominent public health professional Dr. Abdul Samad Abdulla will be appointed the new Health Minister.

Dr. Samad is one of the most experienced public health professionals of the country who has more than 40 years of experience in health services. He has held several high level posts of the health sector including the post of Director General of Health. In his career he was mainly managing communicable diseases control and public health. He has handled many outbreaks and brings with him vast experience in this area.

Dr. Samad also held the post of Director in the WHO South East Asia Regional Office. There too he has handled considerable work in control of outbreak and prevention of communicable diseases.

Dr. Samad was recently in the Task Force appointed by President Mohamed Nasheed to control the outbreak of dengue in the country which claimed several lives. In the process he has pointed out the new provincial council systems lacked capacity to handle epidemics, and there is an urgent need to engage them in the health system with the participation and coordination of those experienced in the area.

Dr. Samad hails from ruling MDP strong hold G Dh Thinadhoo. His brother Mohamed Latheef, GoGo is one of the founding members of the MDP. But he has distanced himself from the functional and other activities of the party. Observers say Latheef is not happy about  President Nasheed's policies and handling of the state affairs.

The Minister of Health Aminath Jameel has come under heavy criticism from the opposition and public for her handling of the health sector especially with the introduction of the corporatization. Health services of the country have suffered serious setbacks in the recent years of the new Government which critics attribute to the lack of leadership of the crucial sector following the corporatising of the entire health services. However there are reliable reports that Dr. Jameel herself was not in full support of corporatising the sector at once. She cautioned to move slowly and proceed with corporatization gradually.

Dr. Aminath Jameel is among the few Ministers who survived the Majlis approval following the en mass resignation of the cabinet last year blaming the Majlis for obstructing the constitutional duties and responsibilities of Cabinet Ministers.

In the wake of the recent dengue epidemic President Nasheed has appealed to all government authorities and local councils to continue their public health protection work.