“Multiple expressions of good will and support.....finances mounting but still quite a ways to go,” Dr. Dan Murphy, the Bairo Pite clinic founder said in a recent Facebook post.

As of the 5th of April 2018, most of the services the clinic provided (including the care for malnourished children, maternal and infant health, and the treatment of HIV, TB, and leprosy) were suspended leaving thousands of people it was treating each week without quality medical care.

The clinic had been serving an average 300 patients a day over the almost two decades it has been operating.

In an online campaign the clinic seeks to get 3000 supporters to donate $10 a month to keep the clinic working.

Dr. Murphy said it would cost around $1000 a day to run the clinic optimally, and through fund raising efforts he hoped to find a way to cover its “lifesaving work”.

 “ Quite a few consults and many interviews but there is a certain sadness in the air. Miss the chaos and humming hustle bustle of a normal full service day at Bairo Pite Clinic,” Dr. Murphy said.

With the clinic being a lifeline for many in Timor-Leste, people have rallied to support.

In a campaign led by the Movement of Solidarity, donations from 10-50 cents by people living on the poverty line have streamed in from Dili, Ainaro and Maufahi.

Faustino Soares, a coordinator at the Movement Solidarity, said his team had collected $4,708.

“Seems likely that we may find our way through the darkness and can then return to what we do best, compassionate care for all that stream through the front gate. Thanks to all for lending a helpful hand,” Dr. Murphy said.

Dr. Murphy set up the clinic in 1999 by making use of a building left to ruin from the conflict in Dili and consulting anyone in need with the meagre resources that he could gather.

Since then it has grown into one of the young county’s trusted sources of medical care, employing 80 local staff and providing free health care to up to 300 patients each day.