Although I had met Cuban medical workers in other situations, it was during a recent one-year assignment as surgeon advisor to the Dili National Hospital in Timor-Leste that I learned more about the scope and intent of Cuba’s huge international medical aid effort.
In November 2007, I was fortunate to be part of a Timorese Ministry of Health team evaluating the 30-bed district hospital in the remote district of Oecussi (population 57,000). This is an enclave of Timor-Leste, located within Indonesian-governed West Timor – a district so remote that the only access for the average Timorese is via a weekly 12-hour ferry trip from the capital, Dili.
