MAF TO THE RESCUE

  • 14 March 2023
  • Caroline Frykberg

The life of a one-year-old boy, suffering from a lung condition, was saved when he was flown by MAF to receive urgent specialist medical treatment.
MAF’s intervention was so vital because the young patient was on Atauro Island, separated by about 20 miles of water from hospital care in Timor-Leste’s capital Dili.
With every moment critical, the medevac by air took less than an hour to come from Dili and return, when a difficult sea crossing by boat would have taken much longer.
The patient, who suffers from pulmonary disease, was successfully transferred from Atauro Island to the national hospital of Guido Valadares (HNGV) in Dili. He was recovering at the hospital but still needed specialist medical care.
“We are very grateful to MAF because they were able to transfer our son with their plane from Atauro to Dili, and at that time the ocean waves were hard, and we were not able to transfer by boat,” said Estevão Mouzinho, the patient’s father.
“But MAF really helped us in that difficult situation and successfully transferred our son to Dili, and we are very grateful for their help.”

Estevão Photo