DILI, 12 july 2021 (TATOLI) – The European Union (EU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have provided 221 types of drugs and equipment to support the work in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The EU Ambassador to Timor-Leste, Andrew Jacobs, said support from partners would help save the lives of patients.
“The Ministry of Health will have quality work and performance if there are adequate equipment and complete medicines,” said Ambassador Jacob in Campo Alor.
Ambassador also encouraged the Ministry of Health (MoH) to invest more to increase the vaccination rates for COVID-19, saying the pandemic will not go extinct.
WHO representative in Timor-Leste, Arvind Mathur, said equipment and medicine made it possible to treat critically ill patients.
“It is important for the state to provide health services to ICUs to treat patients with Covid-19 and other diseases,” he stressed.
Mathur said that WHO provided “116 types of consumables medicine, ten beds and 53 medical equipment, such as portable and non-invasive ventilators, oxygen concentrators, oximeters, nasal cannula, surgical instruments, and incubators”.
He recalled that the process of acquiring the equipment began last year, adding that “delivery was originally scheduled for the Vera Cruz and Lahane health centers, but was also extended to the Reference Hospital”.
The Minister of Health, Odete Freitas Belo, in turn, thanked all the partners for the support, especially the European Union and WHO.
“Although the national hospital does not have sufficient equipment, the critical patients will be sent from the referral hospital to Dili to undergo the treatment,” she recalled.
So far the drugs and equipment have been acquired by the European Union for a total of one million US dollars.
Journalist: Jesuína Xavier
Editor: Maria Auxiliadora
Translation: José Belarmino de Sa
