<span style="color: #222222;">A group of 28 Maldivians reached India last night for availing of critical medical care.<br />''<br />''The government had approved the travel last week of critically-ill Maldivian patients requiring advanced care that is not available in the island nation.<br />''<br />''A special flight carried the 28 patients along with caregivers as well as two doctors and five nurses to a medical institute in Cochin. They were allowed to travel after testing negative for Covid-19.<br />''<br />''Maldives is heavily dependent on Indian medical institutes for advanced medical care and a special permission by Ministry of Home Affairs was accorded to allow Maldivian patients despite ban on international arrivals.<br />''<br />''Country's Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid thanked the Indian government and people for this incredible gesture of goodwill and friendship in this time of crisis.<br />''<br />''The Indian High Commission in Maldives said that a pandemic cannot come between the strong people-to-people connect between India and Maldives, adding that the pandemic has brought the countries closer.</span><br />