Dili, September 14, 2026 (Media Democracia) – President of the Timor-Leste Medical Association (AMTL) facilitates professional health training on primary trauma care for 15 health professionals from the Municipalities of Ainaro, Aileu, Ermera, Liquiçá, Manatuto, Oecusse, Baucau, Manufahi, and Dili.
The President of the Timor-Leste Medical Association, Herculando Seixa, said today that the Timor-Leste Medical Association, as the umbrella organization for all Timorese doctors, is conducting training on primary care for trauma for 15 health professionals from 9 Municipalities.
“The objective of this training is to build the capacity of members who work in municipalities at health centers, so they can have in-depth knowledge of the systematic approach to physical trauma. Because trauma cases are very important, the Medical Association sees the need to build the capacity of our doctors in the emergency area,” said the President of the Timor-Leste Medical Association, Herculando Seixa, to journalists at the AMTL Headquarters, Friday (11/09).
He said this training also aims to ensure they have sufficient technical skills to use the resources they have to provide first aid to patients who suffer trauma.
“Whether from traffic accidents or any other trauma, what is important is that they do a quick intervention to be able to save lives. Then, for this training we invited doctors from referral health centers, and some from health centers in administrative posts who work in the emergency area – a total of 15 from 9 Municipalities,” he said.
He explained that for the municipalities that have not yet been involved in this training, the Timor-Leste Medical Association will hold it in the next phase, which will take place in October this year.
“We will invite them in the second phase which will be held in October. The doctors who participated in this training came from 9 municipalities such as Ainaro, Aileu, Ermera, Liquiçá, Manatuto, Oecusse, Baucau, Manufahi, and Dili,” he explained.
Because this training is designed for a maximum of 15 people and cannot be more, since the training includes practical sessions and simulation sessions for cases that require a small number of participants. Also, the training only runs today and tomorrow.
“The trainers for this training are almost 100% Timorese, such as Timorese specialists like Dr. João Pedro and his other colleagues, who have worked for a long time in the area of anesthesia and surgery, and who received training as trainers with certification from abroad,” he reported.
This year AMTL received funding support from GASC. Therefore, AMTL thanks GASC for supporting them as a gesture of goodwill to continue building the capacity of medical professionals in TL. GASC supported AMTL with a total of $20,000 USD. But this does not only cover the training, because AMTL also implements an institutional strengthening program in the municipalities.
“We conduct socialization of the program, statutes, and institutional regulations. This includes basic emergency care training which will be held in October, and we will continue AMTL activities in the municipalities of Baucau and Ainaro. So the budget allocated to us is not just for one activity, but for many activities in the municipalities and also in Dili,” he explained.
At the same place, Surgery Specialist at HNGV, João Pedro, stated that primary trauma care is very important for everyone, and that this training is very important for health professionals.
“We started training many years ago and since last year we have started again with Timorese trainers. So, data from last year shows that we have already trained 75 people – doctors across the entire territory of Timor,” said João Pedro.
He said the importance of this training is to prepare doctors to be able to provide assistance to victims of trauma, physical trauma, how they can provide care and use the most basic equipment available wherever they work.
“That is why we teach the principles of how to manage these traumas. When we expect them to understand all these principles, they can use whatever facilities are there to provide care to the victims. We hope that after this training, doctors will be able to provide care wherever victims are, and this will greatly benefit the community,” he said.
He hopes that those who have received the training can apply what they have learned. And we hope that we can train more doctors so they can provide care.
Meanwhile, the Training Director, Suzety Soares, informed that this training on primary trauma care is very important and very interesting, because everyone knows that trauma happens, and it happens frequently to communities.
“The objective of this training for health professionals is to reduce and provide better care to our communities,” said Training Director Suzety Soares.
Reporting: Octaviana Da Costa
Photo: Octaviana Da Costa