A new medical centre offering primary health care is about to open in Dili, Timor Leste, one of the poorest countries in Asia. The facility will treat approximately 200 patients a day serving one of the most disadvantaged communities of the capital Dili. Focusing on care for women and children, the clinic comprises examination and procedure rooms.

In a country where 1 in 6 children do not reach their 1st birthday due to treatable illnesses and malnutrition, the clinic will provide an opportunity to fulfil the Orders mission to help the poor and the sick.

Since Timor-Leste became independent in 2002, the Sovereign Order of Malta has undertaken many humanitarian initiatives across the country through its Embassy and the Australian National Association. The Order’s Embassy supports the medical infrastructure of the island, through projects such as funding the construction of a tuberculosis clinic at Venilale and a maternity hospital at Malabe, as well as donating a container full of birthing equipment to the Ministry of Health for the hospital in Baucau.

In 2014, the Order of Malta inaugurated an orphanage for 26 children aged from 6 to 18. The facility, managed by the Dominican sisters, is in Hera, a few kilometres from the capital Dili. It is surrounded by agricultural land which can help to make the structure self-sufficient and at the same time enable the children to learn a skill.

Please view the video below which provides an insight into the opening of the new clinic in Dili and includes commentary from Nobel Prize Winner and Former President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgFt_hIMrsc