The Viqueque Municipal Health Service (SSMV) has requested the government to provide additional ambulances, as currently, there is only one ambulance covering all health posts and health centres in the municipality.
“When there are many patients, we struggle to transfer them to the referral hospital, because there’s only one ambulance available,” said SSMV Director, Dr Aljaksono Soares Maia, in Dili.
He explained that the community is very concerned about the lack of ambulances, as there are times when urgent transfers to the hospital are needed, but no ambulance is available.
“Sometimes the ambulance is already transferring a patient to a health centre, and others must wait until it returns before they can be taken for treatment. This situation worries many patients, but given our current limitations, we just remain understanding and patient,” he explained.
He added that to address this concern from patients, the health service is also using a multi-function vehicle to help transport patients from health centres and posts whenever the main ambulance is not available.
Meanwhile, the Village Chief of Bahalarawain Village, in Viqueque Municipality, Angelo Pinto, urged the government to address this issue seriously.
“Our government must pay attention to the health of our communities, as people need access to proper healthcare,” he said.
He added that often when community members become seriously ill and need to be taken urgently to the hospital, patients are left waiting because an ambulance is not available.
“For example, just recently, someone fell seriously ill and called the Viqueque health centre, but the ambulance was already on another trip to the referral hospital. This kind of situation should not be happening,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Vice Minister for Institutional Health Strengthening (VMFIS), José dos Reis Magno, said the government has already allocated funds to resolve the issue.
“We are aware of these problems, and the Ministry of Health has already allocated funds for the maintenance of broken-down vehicles. If a vehicle cannot be repaired, we will proceed to replace it with a new one,” he said.
