Issue 1/2010


01/02/10

A Lift for Diospi Suyana Hospital

We hinted in our last Editorial that the interlift 2009 was responsible for the completion of a practical, much needed community service project. Wolf-Dietrich Schreier from Eibenstock, a lift industry specialist, and Dr. Klaus John, from Peru, visited the interlift conference to gather donations for building a lift in the Diospi Suyana Hospital in the Andes.
Category: Issue 1/2010
Posted by: Editor

The two gentlemen, armed with laptop and brochures, searched for companies who were able to donate components for the hospital, which was in desperate need of a lift.

Anyone who had 30 minutes time at the interlift to view Dr. Klaus John‘s presentation on development and work at the hospital was impressed by the achievements of the John family, friends, and supporters.
Dr. John met the Schreier family by chance in December of 2008, and mentioned that the hospital desperately needed a lift. With Wolf-Dietrich Schreier‘s support, Dr. John was able to create the following sponsor list by the completion of the interlift:
  • Merico from Hungary: would sponsor planning and shaft equipment
  • Omeras GmbH from Lautern: would build the cabin free of charge
  • Schneider Steuerungstechnik from Hilzingen: would donate the controls and control panels
  • Riedl from Feldkirchen: would donate the lift doors
  • Ziehl-Abegg from Kuenzelsau: supported the project with the lift drive components for the hospital lift, which include all necessary accessories to a total value of approx. 6,000 €. The drive package was a high quality unit, consisting of a gearbox, motor, brakes, and electronic control system. The delivery took place in December 2009.
  • Sautter from Stuttgart: counterweight, safety gear frame, etc.
  • installation by Mr. Schreier in the Summer of 2010 (free of charge)
The total value of the donations came to approximately 35,000 – 37,000 Euro.
After the lift has been installed, an update will be published in the Lift Report, which will also provide more details on the components donated.
„Diospi Suyana“ – In God we Trust!
The descendents of the Incas lead a woeful, shadowy existence in the mountains of Peru. Only one third of the Quechuans with serious physical complaints have access to adequate medical treatment. On the one hand, the patients cannot afford modern treatments, and on the other, there are simply not enough doctors in the countryside. In Apurímac, there are less than three doctors per 10,000 members of the population. For comparison, there is one doctor for every 33 people in Germany. The adverse living conditions encourage the development of a series of diseases, such as tuberculosis, skin infections, and an endemic infestation from worms and other parasites.
 
As the human rights organisation Amnesty International (AI) reports, southern Peru is the poor house of the country. This is where the people of Anisanbau live, earning approximately two Euros per day. The drinking water is transported through the city using open canals; it is contaminated with helminthic ova and parasites.
Martina and Klaus-Dieter John met in high school at the age of 17, and discovered they had something in common: „Even when we were very young, we knew what we wanted to do“, recounts Klaus-Dieter John: „Become doctors as quickly as possible, and then move to the third world to make a difference.“
Dr. Klaus-Dieter and Dr. Martina John have collected valuable experience while completing their residencies at renowned clinics on various continents around the world.
His career as a surgeon has taken him to, among others, universities at Harvard, Yale, Johannesburg, and Berlin. The former German National Academic Foundation scholarship holder capped her university career by completing American and German training as a paediatrician.
Between 1999 and 2003, the John‘s worked at the Vozandes del Oriente hospital in Ecuador, among both indigenous and mestizo peoples, all the while developing their concept for a modern missionary hospital. On the 17th and 18th of August 2002, together with ten socially committed Christians, they founded a nondenominational association, with the goal of constructing a missionary hospital for the indigenous mountain peoples. The association was soon registered as a nonprofit organization.
After a long conversation between Dr. John and the Health Minister for Peru at the time, Dr. Carbone Campoverde, a detailed cooperative agreement was madebetween the provincial medical board and the Diospi Suyana on the 3rd of February 2003. Sister associations for Diospi Suyana were founded in both Peru and the USA, and were soon granted nonprofit status by the respective governments.
Diospi Suyana has become one of the best known projects in Germany and Peru , by virtue of over a thousand lectures on the subject.
Between January 2004 and December 2007, countless individuals from every walk of life have donated approximately 3.5 million USD to the missionary hospital. In addition, in-kind donations worth up to 2 million USD have been collected.
Approximately 50 companies from several countries helped to equip the hospital. In this way, for example, 100 tonnes of equipment was transported from Germany to the hospital in Peru free of charge, thanks to help from DHL, Hamburg- Süd, and Neptunia.
Time Line
The missionary hospital Diospi Suyana is located in the Andes, 2600 meters above sea level, at the edge of the city of Curahuasi, directly on the Pan-American highway. The hospital is within 3 hours drive from 25,000 people. The Doctors John also live in the area, together with their three children.
Countless guests from Peru and abroad were present at the inauguration ceremony on the 31st of August 2007. The First Lady of Peru identified the missionary hospital as a „Cathedral of Love“, saying that the whole of Peru could learn a lesson from Diospi Suyana. In his opening speech, Dr. John named the hospital a „Hospital of Belief“. He said that it is an indication that God is still present, even in the 21st century. The missionary hospital opened its doors on the 22nd of October. The consulting room, pharmacy, dentistry suite, physiotherapy facilities, and ultra sound service have been in operation since the opening.
The service area of the hospital includes 12 examination rooms, four operating theatres, an emergency room, comprehensive laboratory facilities and an x-ray department equipped with computer tomography and digitalised radiograph. In addition, there is an intensive care ward with 5 beds as well as an excellently equipped physical therapy and endoscopic department. The Diospi Suyana hospital now offers the indigenous mountain people a level of medical care previously reserved almost exclusively for the upper classes of the Andes.
Current Plans
Currently, the hospital is expanding with the addition of a modern dentistry clinic. With a total of 110 personnel, 30 of which are volunteers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the USA, the hospital currently has a capacity of 300 patients per day, 100,000 per year. The demand is enormous – patients often have to be sent away, as the ten doctors currently working in the clinic simply do not have enough time in their day to treat every patient. In addition, the pharmacy, which relies on donations, cannot always provide enough medicine for those who need it.
1/2010

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