Nursing Placements and Midwife Positions Volunteers, Maldives

The hospital on the island of Naifaru is the main hospital for the Lhivayani atoll and caters to a population of roughly 11,000 people. Being a relatively small hospital, you will be given a unique opportunity to work in-depth with patients, more so than you would in a larger hospital, as the staff-to-patient ratio is much higher in a smaller hospital.

As a volunteer on the nursing programme, you will be given extensive duties which include; Direct care of patients, Dressing of wounds, Hygiene, Administering medicine, Taking blood samples & cannulation. Whether you are an experienced nurse, or currently doing your studies; volunteering at Naifaru hospital is bound to give you new and interesting perspectives on your profession. You will gain experience which will be different from that of larger hospitals. This is true for the way the hospital is run as well as the fact that the tropical setting will allow you to become familiar with tropical medicine in a low-risk area.

Aside from being able to give much more in-depth care, you will also be able to experience duties which fall into different departments. At the moment the hospital has the following specialists: Obstetricians & Gynaecologists, Anaesthetists, General Practitioners, Dentists, Paediatricians (planned).

If you join the project as a midwife or midwife student you will also be able to work closely with antenatal care. At the hospital, you are sure to find this to be a different experience from what you are used to. Working with antenatal care in the community is infused with cultural considerations which offer a unique insight into the ‘real’ Maldives. Midwife volunteers will also be given the opportunity to go on home visits, giving further insight into the Maldivian culture by taking you ‘behind the scenes’ of local family life.

Location

A geological eccentricity nestled in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the Maldives are a series of ancient coral reefs that grew up around the sides of towering prehistoric volcanoes. These immense structures have long since sunk into the ocean, leaving behind coral islands of incredible natural beauty, from the modernity of Male to the idyllic paradise of the Southern Atolls.

The Maldives have bright blue skies, all-year sunshine and fantastic diving and snorkelling in lagoons the temperature of bathwater. The country embraces travellers from around the world but maintains a deep Muslim faith. The Maldives has a tropical climate with warm temperatures year-round and a great deal of sunshine. The weather is determined largely by the monsoon seasons.

Accommodation

Volunteers on this project stay together in our shared volunteer guest house. The guest house comes with a living room with comfortable furniture, laundry facilities, TV, a large bookshelf and a fridge. All rooms in the house come equipped with aircon, fans and wi-fi internet. The standard room is a two to three-person shared (single-sex) room with its own Western-style bathroom.

We provide 3 meals per day for all volunteers. We will also organize for volunteers to eat together at local restaurants with the staff from time to time as a social event and order the food in advance if needed, but volunteers will need to pay either in dollars or local currency during their stay for any extra food expenses on top of this e.g. snacks.

Project Dates

Volunteers can participate in this project for a minimum of three weeks throughout the year.