Consultations
Photo © Basil Rolandsen (bouvetmedia.com)
The first thing you see entering the Bairo Pite Clinic compond is the out-patients waiting to see a doctor. Literally hundreds of them every day, gathering from dawn, and with the last ones leaving by sunset. Monday through Saturday, more than 500 consultations are made daily at the clinic in Dili. In addition, more than 60 consultations are made in remote areas through mobile clinics, conducted Mondays through Fridays. In 2009, this amounted to a staggering 145,291 Dili clinic consultations and 15,136 more through 418 mobile clinics.
The head physician at Bairo Pite Clinic, Dr Dan Murphy sees many of these patients. With more than 10 years of consultations in East Timor (supported by years in other development country settings), he is well versed in the conditions normally met here, and quickly diagnose the simpler cases, thus being able to spend more time on more complicated ones. He is helped by visiting doctors and other volunteer madical staff, as well as the clinic staff itself, but the workload is still intense, seven days a week.
Bairo Pite Clinic is the busiest clinic in East Timor. Patients come not only from all parts of the capital Dili, but from all over the country. It is a trusted clinic, and you find all kinds of people seeking help here, from the poorest of the poor to wealthier locals and the occational expatriate. All patients are welcomed and treated equally, and for free. All patients are seen before we close, every day.