Rural Healthcare East Sumba in Madutolung
Thirty photographs from one long day of care
Six hours before the first patient: Rural healthcare East Sumba often begins with the road. On 1 August 2026, we left at 4 a.m. and travelled for six difficult hours to Kampung Madutolung, Desa Kambata Bundung. The vehicles strained, the journey was demanding, and everything needed for the day had to travel with us. By 10 a.m., consultations had begun.
More than 115 people in one day: Around thirty team members, including three doctors, worked until about 5 p.m. More than 115 people were seen, most of them children. We carried out clinical examinations and measured blood glucose, uric acid and cholesterol, and screened for malaria using blood slides for microscopy. Medicines were provided according to clinical need. Malnutrition, diarrhoea, skin and respiratory problems, gastric complaints, infections, fatigue, joint pain and back pain were among the most common problems encountered.
Prevention alongside treatment: The photographs also show what happens between consultations. Our teams spent hours talking with families about nutrition, hand hygiene, waste management, malaria, passive smoking, alcohol and healthier daily habits. Posters became places where people stopped, looked, asked questions and discussed. The local Kawan Sehat health agent helped organise the day and bring families together. She was there before our vehicles arrived and remains there after they leave.
What these photographs record: These thirty images document what bringing primary care to a remote community actually requires. Six hours there, a full day of medicine and prevention, then six hours back. We shared lunch, listened, examined children and adults, tested, explained and treated. The entire operation cost around CHF 936. Rural healthcare in East Sumba is built through these long days, but also through local people who continue the work when the medical team has gone.
Alex Wettstein – Fair Future Foundation medico-social camp in East Sumba – Rumah Kambera, Lambanapu – 28th of August 2025
