Establishing rudimentary health-care facilities in East Timor

Abstract

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was forcibly absorbed into the Republic of Indonesia in 1975. An armed East Timorese resistance movement maintained a fight for independence for the next quarter of a century. The Indonesian Government allowed a plebiscite of the population in August 1999, the result of which was strongly in favour of independence. Following the poll, there was an outbreak of extreme violence and the structure of the country was virtually destroyed. The Indonesian Government invited a multinational force to restore order. This report is of the medical work conducted while serving in a multifunction non-government organization in East Timor in the post-conflict environment. The work includes developing a tuberculosis clinic, conducting refugee medicine at the border crossing point and establishing a rudimentary health-care system based on a primary-care model. A background in emergency medicine is very useful in situations such as this, where improvisation becomes a core skill.