Hamutuk Ita Ajuda Malu (HIAM) Health director Rosaria Martins da Cruz has rejected claims that the organization was provided financial support by the Ministry of Health to help combat malnutrition.
She said HIAM Health had not received any funds from the ministry since it built its rehabilitation center in 2010.
“We are so far supported by international organizations only,” da Cruz said at Timor Plaza, Dili.
She acknowledged that HIAM Health did receive funds from the government through the Civil Society Fund and the Cabinet of the President of the Republic’s Combat Poverty fund.
However the director said every year the organization submitted proposals to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries as well as the Civil Society Fund without result.
“Probably malnutrition program is not the government’s priority,” she said.
Twenty-five malnutrition patients are currently undergoing treatment at the rehabilitation center, she said.
Ministry of Health Public Health Director Carlito Soares said the ministry had previously allocated funds to HIAM Health’s malnutrition rehabilitation center.
He said the ministry would not provide funds to HIAM Health this year as the ministry was occupied with analyzing a memorandum of understanding which would allow it to work out a program based on government constitutional policy.
Soares said the ministry supported HIAM Health’s work to care for malnourished children every year, though he was unable to provide exact figures.
