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Infant mortality compels Aussie doctor to support Timor Sea TV ads

Timor Sea Justice Campaign News Release - April 21, 2005

Emeritus consultant gynaecologist, Barry Mendelawitz, who spent time working in East Timor, has felt compelled by the abysmal state of East Timor's health system to urge the Australian Government to give our neighbours a fair go in the Timor Sea.

Featuring in the next phase of Ian Melrose's television advertising campaign, Dr Mendelawitz said the appalling conditions in East Timor could be significantly assisted by increased revenue while the country struggles to establish a viable economy and believes a fair share of the gas and oil in the Timor Sea is the most obvious source.

"During my time in East Timor at the National hospital, it was almost a daily occurrence for a dead baby to be delivered," Dr Mendelawitz said.

Dr Mendelawitz, who has forty years of experience in health service delivery, said twelve out of every 100 East Timorese children will die before the age of five and East Timor has the highest maternal mortality rate in the region.

"In 2003, almost one in five babies born in the national hospital was born dead and there's every reason to expect that conditions are even worse in areas outside of Dili. The vast majority of births are not attended by professional health workers, in the regional districts it's just a case of relatives assisting with births," Dr Mendelawitz said.

Dr Mendelawitz believes the revenue from gas and oil in the Timor Sea would have a major impact in allowing East Timor to address overwhelming levels of poverty, illiteracy, preventable disease and widespread hunger.

"The business of negotiating maritime boundaries should have been mediated a long time ago, because in the meanwhile East Timor is in desperate need of funds for basic services such as health and education," Dr Mendalawitz said.

He also strongly supports the Timor Sea Justice Campaign's calls for the Australian Government to put contested gas and oil revenues into a trust fund until the dispute is resolved.

"It's the only way to ensure money that East Timor is legally entitled to, isn't spent by the Australian Government," Dr Mendalawitz said. The ads will screen nationally from tomorrow night on channels Seven, Nine and SBS.

Protest rallies for 'A Fair Go For East Timor' are taking place at 12noon in both Sydney and Melbourne next Tuesday when maritime boundary negotiations resume in Dili.

For further information, please contact: Tom Clarke, Co-ordinator, Timor Sea Justice Campaign, Melbourne. 0422 545 763.
 

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