Male: As diplomatic relations between Maldives and India deteriorate, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu has announced to slash reliance on India for healthcare and medicine, adding more countries where citizens needing government-paid health treatment abroad can go.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Muizzu in a media interview in Male said the government would “diminish reliance on… a select group of countries”, without specifically mentioning India, and would now support treatment also in the United Arab Emirates.
Most pharmaceuticals in the Maldives are currently imported from India, and Male will now seek to import medicines from the United States and European nations, he added.
Earlier, the Maldivian president has asked India to withdraw its troops by March 15.
The March deadline was set during talks with Indian officials in the Maldives on Sunday, a top aide to President Mohamed Muizzu said, honouring the leader’s long-standing election pledge.
The president raised the demand at the meeting of the high-level committee between the two nations… the proposal is currently under consideration, Muizzu’s Public Policy Secretary Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim told reporters.
Muizzu came to power in September after pledging to evict Indian forces.
New Delhi considers the Indian Ocean archipelago to be within its sphere of influence but the country has shifted to China’s orbit, the Maldives’s largest external creditor.
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