MMA Restricts $1,000 Medical Treatment Dollars to Six Countries

The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has restricted the $1,000 it sells for self-funded medical treatment abroad to six countries, effective today. In a statement today, the central bank said the $1,000 will now be sold only to people travelling for medical treatment to India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. MMA said the specific countries were selected to ensure that foreign currency provided for medical treatment is an amount that can be spent directly for that purpose. Under the decision, while the $1,000 given solely for medical treatment will be sold to countries where Maldivians commonly travel for treatment, MMA said there would be no change to the $2,000 sold to Aasandha. MMA also said that by the end of last month, $41.1 million had been sold for medical purposes, three times higher than the same period last year. A large part of this amount is foreign currency provided to Maldivians who travel abroad for self-funded medical treatment, it said. Since August last year, when the sale of $1,000 to Maldivians travelling abroad for self-funded medical treatment began, the total amount sold for medical treatment has increased significantly, according to MMA's statement. By the end of last month, $29.2 million had been sold to Maldivians travelling abroad from the Maldives for self-funded medical treatment.