Fair Future delivers essential medical equipment to RSUD Waingapu, serving nearly 800000 people
Life-saving medical tools strengthen the only referral hospital in East Sumba
Inside the neonatal intensive care unit of RSUD Umbu Rara Meha in Waingapu. Families and staff confront extreme shortages of equipment, while premature births remain very frequent due to malnutrition, early pregnancies, and lack of medical resources.
Medical Equipment Donation to RSUD Umbu Rara Meha Waingapu
RSUD Umbu Rara Meha, Sumba’s referral hospital, serves nearly 800,000 people and faces severe resource shortages: only one ventilator is operational, with no CPAP or central oxygen available, and basic supplies are often missing. Mortality remains high, not due to access issues, but because once patients arrive, the hospital can offer little support.
After multiple visits to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and emergency wards, Fair Future took action. Alongside the Vice-Regent of East Sumba, Jonathan Hani, doctors, and nurses, we formed a working group to identify urgent needs.
Over the course of six weeks, we worked closely with medical staff, outlined what was needed, our team negotiated with suppliers, arranged fragile shipments, and ensured that each item matched clinical demands.
What are we delivering ? We focused on the most urgent gaps; those that directly translate into saved lives:
- The hospital will receive essential airway and monitoring tools, including digital thermometers, pulse oximeters, paediatric sensors, nebulisers, peak-flow meters, and a neonatal resuscitator with a T-piece.
- For airway management, a full set of fibre-optic laryngoscopes suitable for all ages will be provided, along with Ambu bags in three sizes: adult, child, and infant. These are critical for emergency care, resuscitation, and anaesthesia, which were previously lacking.
- The donation supplies surgical instruments and sterilisation tools for daily use in ophthalmology, paediatrics, and emergency rooms, which previously lacked scissors and sterilisation trays.
- It includes full microsurgery sets for cataracts and hordeolum, stainless-steel sterilisation boxes, various surgical scissors (Mayo, Metzenbaum-Fino, Lister, tissue), survival medical scissors, and waterproof reusable gowns. These wards will now have adequate sterile tools for safe operations.
- Neonatal and paediatric support has been enhanced. Newborns, previously lacking suitable equipment, now have access to phototherapy lamps for treating neonatal jaundice, accurate manual baby scales, and specialised monitors and monitoring sensors. These improvements are vital in a region with one of Indonesia’s highest infant mortality rates.
- Cardiology and vital sign recording. We provided a 12-lead ECG machine (Edan SE-1200E), trolley, and recording paper, enabling proper cardiac diagnosis—an improvement from previous broken or improvised devices.
- Laboratory diagnostics include a new Olympus binocular microscope, a centrifuge, and counting chambers, which are essential for diagnosing infections, malaria, anaemia, and other pathologies that cannot be identified clinically alone.
On 19 September 2025, at 14:00, Fair Future will officially hand over the equipment at RSUD Waingapu’s Aula. The donation exceeds 230 million rupiah, including over 40 types and around 175 items of medical equipment.
Why this matters
This donation is practical, immediate, and life-saving, not symbolic. Hospital staff selected each item, and Fair Future acquired them to high standards. Every thermometer, scissors, and neonatal resuscitator fills a gap that previously cost lives.
Of course, this does not resolve everything; ventilators, CPAP machines, bilirubin detectors, and many other devices are still urgently needed. But with this first delivery, doctors and nurses at RSUD Waingapu will have real tools in their hands again. Tools to resuscitate, monitor, diagnose, and operate. Tools to save lives.
This initiative, in collaboration with our Indonesian partner, Kawan Baik Indonesia, with whom we’ve worked for over six years, showcases Swiss expertise in healthcare systems and logistics solutions. Swiss medical expertise and precise resource management ensure that the needs of healthcare facilities are met effectively.
On 19 September, when we gather with the hospital’s staff and local authorities, we will celebrate not just a donation, but the start of a stronger, more dignified healthcare system in one of the most isolated corners of Indonesia.
Today, the 28th of August 2025 – Alex Wettstein
- Download the comprehensive inventory of life-saving medical equipment donated to RSUD Waingapu, which supports care for approximately 800,000 people in East Sumba.
In Short – Essential Donation, Immense Impact
The Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia deliver vital medical equipment to RSUD Waingapu, the only hospital serving nearly 800,000 people. Thanks to Rotary Australia’s support, this operation becomes a turning point for neonatal, pediatric, and emergency care in East Sumba.
List of Related Organisations with Hyperlinks
- Swiss Solidarity: Swiss humanitarian foundation funding urgent medical relief, hospital support, and healthcare infrastructure projects worldwide.
- Direct Relief: Provides medical supplies and equipment to hospitals and clinics in resource-poor areas and during emergencies.
- International Medical Corps: Delivers medical training, supplies, and emergency relief to strengthen healthcare systems globally.
- MAP International: US-based NGO that ships essential medicines and medical supplies to hospitals and clinics in low-resource countries.
- Project HOPE: Provides medicines, medical devices, and health-worker training to improve hospital capacity worldwide.
- Médecins Sans Frontières: Supplies emergency field hospitals with equipment, medicines, and surgical capacity in crisis areas.
- Partnership for Quality Medical Donations: Global alliance improving access to donated medicines and medical equipment for hospitals and clinics.
- Americares: Focuses on strengthening health centres with essential medicines, diagnostic equipment, and emergency medical kits.
