Scientific Reports

Since 2015, 5 Interplast teams have operated on more than 600 patients in a blood bank in Goma, Congo with the local surgeons and experienced the absolute necessity for the construction of a small hospital for the local Church of the Nazarene.
After 24 years of experience with our Nepal hospital www.nepalhospital.de, the most important prerequisite is the reliability and commitment of the local doctors in a country shaken by corruption. The 4 doctors there have been treating poor patients for 6 years for God's wages.
Goma, a city of 2 million people on the eastern border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, is the headquarters of the UN Refugee Agency and its blue helmets. Under Belgian rule, Goma was the Las Vegas of Africa and is now the safest place in Congo thanks to the UN military stationed there.

The Congo has been embroiled in civil wars for 60 years and large parts are still ruled by rebels. In 2003, 2/3 of the city was flooded by a red-hot lava flow during the eruption of the nearby Volcano. There are practically only 4 functioning hospitals in Goma, all of which only treat emergencies, but only provide treatment or operations for the poor population against payment.
The 4 dedicated doctors at the Nazarene outpatient clinic provide minimal medical care to around 100,000 residents; three of them would like to train as internists, pediatricians or laboratory doctors in crash courses in Uganda; the experienced surgeon Dr. Christophe Kimona, 60, has already operated on the 5 Interplast missions.
On the site of the old Nazarene church there is still a wooden barrack with 5 small outpatient rooms with no light and little medication. My architect son Andreas and I, together with an architect and the doctors, have designed a single-storey surgical outpatient clinic, which can later be extended with 2 more floors if funding is available.

The planned REHEMA-Cntre Medical (the Swahili word REHEMA means mercy) received planning permission from the building authority and the Ministry of Health in July 2020. My other son Martin is financing the exterior construction with 50,000 euros; I will use our mother's inheritance of 120,000 euros for the interior work, beds, surgery and necessary diagnostic equipment.
Two years ago, my former employer in Frankfurt, the multi-billion-euro evangelical Agaplesion gAG, which owns more than 100 hospitals and hospices, offered to pay me 2,000 to 5,000 euros a month for the first five years, but has now withdrawn its support for a hospital near Kumasi in Ghana.
In February 2021, Interplast will submit a 3rd application for $150,000 for the interior design and solar panels to the Ministry of Development in Bonn (BMZ) and insist on sustainability through the visit of future Interplast and other specialist teams for the further training of doctors. A second application for 150,000 euros for equipment is currently being submitted to the Else-Kröner-Fesenius Foundation.

The two German partners “Interplast-Germany” and the “Church-in-Action” in Frankfurt have also pledged financial support. A member of “KiA” and I are monitoring our partner NGO in Goma, “People-in-Action International” (PAI), and the financial and construction management.
The financial support in terms of sustainability of a functioning outpatient clinic with medicines and surgical supplies for the poor, and some salaries, needs to be found urgently. The Church-in-Action in Frankfurt will also participate in the search for a monthly support of $2,000 to $5,000 from its worldwide Nazarene partner congregations. It will be a very important hospital for a population totally neglected by the state.
We therefore invite all Interplast teams to include a visit to the future REHEMA Medical Center in their plans - and to climb the Nyiragongo volcano or visit the mountain gorillas at the weekend.