German Doctors
| German Doctors | |
|---|---|
|
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| legal form | non-profit registered association |
| founding | 1983 |
| founder | Bernhard Ehlen |
| Seat | Bonn , Germany |
| motto | Help that lasts |
| main emphasis | basic medical help |
| Action space | worldwide |
| people | Maria Furtwängler , Peter Eigen , Hans Tietmeyer |
| Website | www.german-doctors.de |
German Doctors eV is an association based in Bonn , which is active in medical emergency areas of developing countries, mostly in slums of big cities or in remote rural regions. Every year more than 300 doctors volunteer in India , Bangladesh , Kenya , Sierra Leone and the Philippines , mainly to treat seriously ill people there.
Typical activities of the doctors who work for the association are treatment, health care, adequate nutrition and the training of local employees. The association received the DZI's donation seal in 1992 .
history
The organization was founded in 1983 as Doctors for Developing Countries in Frankfurt by the Jesuit Father Bernhard Ehlen , who has since been suspended . In 1981, while working with starving refugees in Somalia , he had seen how doctors, often with modest means, can help meaningfully and save lives. He therefore wanted to set up an aid organization with German doctors to provide help free of charge in areas of emergency and poverty. In order to attract as large a number of employees as possible, the idea was to accept assignments with a minimum duration of one and a half months. Doctors can use their annual vacation without having to become “dropouts”. The organization has been based in Bonn since June 2013 and has been renamed to its current name.
financing
The doctors work free of charge and also bear at least half of the flight costs themselves. There are no expenses or allowances. The medical projects are mainly financed from donations. According to the company's own statements, the income in 2017 was € 9.06 million (of which € 6.7 million were donations and € 1.17 million from the BMZ). The organization is based in Bonn.
Working method
As part of the long-term projects, doctors in general health centers, but also in outpatient clinics and mobile health stations, offer free treatment for the poor. In order to guarantee continuity, the assignments follow one another without any gaps. Several doctors are constantly working on site. You basically work with local nurses and health workers to ensure adaptation to the culture, mentality and religion of the patients.
In total, more than 3,200 doctors have been involved in over 7,000 missions since 1983. While most medical professionals work on a project for the usual 6 weeks, there is also a so-called long-term doctor per site who ensures the continuity of the work. The commitment of senior citizens plays a major role. Every fifth mission is now performed by a doctor over the age of 62.
Projects
Calcutta / India
The first mission took place in Calcutta in 1983, the year it was founded - since then, over 1,400 more medical appointments have been made. The association now runs outpatient clinics and hospitals in the slums of the sister cities of Calcutta and Howrah. In addition to basic medical care, the fight against tuberculosis is the focus of work in Calcutta , which is rampant in the city's slums. Six doctors are permanently present here and can therefore carry out an average of 60,000 treatments per year.
Cebu / Philippines
In Cebu on the Philippine island of the same name, the organization has been active since 2004 and has carried out over 120 medical appointments since then. In so-called slum clinics, which are staffed by two German doctors, people who cannot afford a doctor's visit are treated free of charge. In addition to basic medical care for slum dwellers, the focus of work in Cebu is on diagnosing and caring for tuberculosis sufferers. Over 20,000 treatments can be carried out here every year.
Mindanao / Philippines
The association has been active on the Philippine island of Mindanao since 1985 and has carried out over 2,000 medical visits since then. In three hospitals for the poor in Buda, Cagayan de Oro and Valencia City , six German doctors are consistently deployed to provide medical care for the poor. Four other doctors set out with the so-called Rolling Clinic to the remote areas of the island in order to reach those patients who live far away from civilization. Over 130,000 people receive medical help in this way every year.
Mindoro / Philippines
The association's work began in 1983 on the “Smokey Mountains”, the mountains of garbage in Manila , and in the huge slums of Tondo . In 1992 a large health center was opened in Bagong Silang, an evacuation area populated with 300,000 people. Since the summer of 2002, a team of doctors has also been regularly visiting the indigenous people on the neighboring island of Mindoro , who live far away from civilization and have no access to medical care. In the meantime, the focus of the project has completely shifted from Manila to Mindoro. More than 500 medical visits have been carried out there since 2002.
Chittagong / Bangladesh
The association has been active in Chittagong since 2000 and has carried out over 300 medical visits since then. In the health center there, the door of the ambulance staffed by two doctors is open to the slum dwellers at any time. There are also regular home visits to the slums. In addition to this basic medical care, nutrition programs for malnourished and malnourished children and health training courses for pregnant women and mothers are offered in Chittagong.
Dhaka / Bangladesh
The association has been active in Dhaka since 1989 and has carried out over 500 medical visits since then. The health center there is staffed by two German doctors throughout; In addition, the doctors with a mobile ambulance are on duty at various locations in the big city slums. This basic medical care is flanked by a nutrition program for undernourished and undernourished children as well as various slum schools to enable the children and young people to have a better future.
Nairobi / Kenya
The association has been active in Nairobi since 1997. Six doctors work constantly in the “Mathare Valley” slum, where over 400,000 people are concentrated in a confined space, mostly without drinking water, electricity or waste disposal. Together with local helpers, up to 600 patients receive basic medical care every day. Another focus is the care of AIDS -suffered patients. Since malnutrition is a major contributor to child mortality, the nutrition program is another important component. Since the start of the project, more than 800 voluntary medical visits have been carried out in Nairobi.
Serabu / Sierra Leone
In the Serabu Community Hospital, which is located in a remote region in the southeast of Sierra Leone , the association has been active since 2010 and has carried out over 200 medical visits. Five German specialists from the fields of surgery, obstetrics, paediatrics and public health are permanently on site to support the local employees. In Serabu, special attention is paid to maternity care and obstetrics in order to counteract the still very high child mortality rate in Sierra Leone. Even after the outbreak of Ebola fever , the German Doctors are still on site and maintain health care in their hospital.
The Union
Its founder, Bernhard Ehlen, was managing director for 23 years. In 2006 Harald Kischlat succeeded him. The association is financed by donations, federal funds for development aid and the allocation of fines. The expenditures for the eight projects with the more than 30 doctors from Germany who are constantly present as well as other local doctors and more than 300 nurses, translators, drivers and supplementary programs amounted to 6.88 million euros in 2017. Administration and public relations costs were 14.97% during this period. In addition to the eight long-term projects, the association supports over 50 partner projects in 16 countries.
At the beginning of 2010, the organization hit the headlines because founder Bernhard Ehlen admitted a case of sexual abuse of a student in the course of the scandal surrounding the Canisius College in Berlin . It turned out that Ehlen's resignation as managing director in 2006 was due to this case. A board member of the organization who has since resigned had been informed at the time, but had remained silent about it. After the allegations became known, Ehlen immediately resigned from his position on the board and also left the association. The organization then convened an external committee of experts to clarify whether there were any attacks in the context of Ehlen’s work for the association. The corresponding report is now available and the measures recommended therein have been implemented (child protection guidelines). A board of trustees acts as a control body. Its president is the doctor and actress Maria Furtwängler .
The association is a member of or supports the following organizations: Alliance Development Helps , Initiative Transparent Civil Society , VENRO , Action Alliance against AIDS .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.german-doctors.de/de/ueber-uns/geschichte
- ↑ http://www.dzi.de/spenderberatung/datenbanksuchmaske/suchverbindungen/1/?typ=alle&keyword=german+doctors&bereich=alle&laender=alle&sitz=alle
- ^ Report of the General Anzeiger from June 13, 2013
- ↑ The Calcutta Project of the German Doctors
- ^ The German Doctors' Cebu project
- ^ The Mindanao project of the German Doctors
- ↑ The Mindoro Project of the German Doctors
- ^ The Chittagong project of the German Doctors
- ^ The German Doctors' Dhaka project
- ^ The German Doctors' Nairobi Project
- ^ The German Doctors' Serabu project
- ↑ Overview of the partner projects
- ^ Report of the Frankfurter Rundschau from February 5, 2010
- ↑ Report of the Commission (May 2012) (PDF; 394 kB)
- ↑ Statement on the Commission report (May 2012) (PDF; 189 kB)
- ↑ https://www.german-doctors.de/de/ueber-uns/transparenz-und-kontrolle/kindesschutz
- ↑ https://www.german-doctors.de/de/ueber-uns/menschen-und-struktur/kuratorium