|
MAF Timor-Leste operates the only air ambulance service in the country. Because getting from remote Atauro Island to the specialist hospital in Dili requires a rough, three-hour ferry crossing, MAF – for most patients – is the only way to access specialised medical help.
After giving birth, Bernadette urgently needed medical assistance from Guido Valadares National Hospital in Dili.
She says, ‘I was in a critical condition so, when I heard that I would be transferred by MAF’s plane, I believed I still had hope of surviving.’
MAF flew her to the mainland in just 15 minutes.
Members of MAF Timor-Leste later visited her in hospital, bringing Bernadette supplies such as food, drink and a phone voucher so she could call her family. (In Timor-Leste, patients rely on friends or family members for basic supplies, so patients from isolated areas can often feel stranded without these visits.)
A relieved Fernando — Bernadette’s husband — thanked us for flying his wife and their baby to hospital. He adds: ‘I’m incredibly grateful to MAF for assisting us in transferring my wife and our baby from Atauro to Dili. MAF did amazing work and saved my wife’s life when she was in a serious condition.’
After almost a week in hospital, the family have now returned home now that mother and baby are doing well.
Since we started operating in Timor-Leste, over 3,000 patients have received an MAF medevac – with more than 50 ill or injured people having been airlifted by MAF to hospital this year.
|
