| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (27 min. 6 sec.) ; 163941238 bytes |
| Summary |
As doctors and healthcare workers continue the challenge of treating preventable diseases in East Timor, Foreign Correspondent reporter Sophie McNeill spends time in Dili's Bairo Pite Clinic, with an inspiring medical team providing free health care services to thousands. Diseases such as leprosy, tuberculosis, heart failure, severe malnutrition, and infant diarrhoea are common and widespread - and over 50% of children under the age of five are said to be underweight and stunted for their age. Meanwhile, deaths in childbirth are among the highest in the whole of Asia. Meet team leader Dr. Dan, who came from the U.S, set up the clinic, and decided to stay.It's early morning at Bairo Pite clinic in the suburbs of Dili, East Timor and there are already hundreds of patients waiting to see Dr Dan Murphy. The former GP from America's Midwest came to the country 16 years ago with just one little bag and has been here ever since. During that time he's managed to do an awful lot with very few resources."There is really no access to anything near adequate healthcare. In every category in health, their numbers are worse than most of South East Asia. We don't have very many meds. We don't have very many diagnostic tools so mostly we're going by smoke and mirrors. You can't do as well as you could if you had all the right tests." - Dr Dan Murphy - Medical Director Bairo Pite Clinic While Australia and East Timor continue to wrangle over who owns the rights to billions of dollars worth of oil and gas in the Timor Sea, the standard of living here continues to plod. According to a UN report last year 68% of the population still lives in poverty, 38 per cent in severe poverty. Dr Dan and his team have become experts in diseases most Australian's thought has been consigned to history. When five-year-old Paulo walks in with strange marks on his arms and face, Dr Dan knew Leprosy might be on the cards. He's already seen 7 cases in the past month. Meanwhile, there is a ward full of tuberculosis patients and another packed with malnourished children. We meet four-year-old Ozmenia who's four years old, but only weighs 6.7 kilos."Certain times of the year there's just not much to eat. Approximately half of the people are stunted which means they're not as big as they should be for their age."Dr Dan Murphy - Medical Director Bairo Pite ClinicMeanwhile, up in the mountains of the Ermera District, women have walked for hours to see Dr Aida Goncalves and her team of midwives. East Timor has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in Asia and Dr Goncalves does her best to convince women seek out help when giving birth. Her motivations make a difference to these people's lives is driven by tragedy close to home - three brothers lost to preventable illness. "Two of my brothers they died of diarrhoea. Something in your country that doesn't kill people, but here in Timor it kills a lot of people. My other brother died from asthma at 17." - Dr Aida Goncalves - Frontline NGO. Back in Dili, 34-year-old father of three Tomas Pinto is dangerously ill and could die at any moment. Like many East Timorese, he had rheumatic fever when he was younger, a common illness here that can lead to lifelong heart trouble. In Australia, a simple operation would fix the valve in his heart that has become dangerously narrow, however this is just one of the many operations not available in East Timor. He can't believe his luck when a lifeline from Australia is suddenly extended to him. "I was the one person out of so many that God chose, from so many people. I'm just from a poor family. And was chosen from so many Timorese. I am so very grateful." - Tomas Pinto - Maths teacher and heart patient. From a frantically busy clinic in Dili to the lush mountains districts to a Melbourne cardiac ward, in her debut report for Foreign Correspondent, Sophie McNeill follows the inspiring doctors and patients caught in the middle of this crisis |
| Event |
Broadcast 2014-08-12 at 20:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Health facilities -- Sociological aspects.
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Leprosy -- Patients.
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Malnutrition in children.
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Mothers -- Mortality.
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Asia, Southeastern.
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Timor-Leste -- Dili.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Mcneill, Sophie, host
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Murphy, Dan, contributor
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