Building Bridges

(PICTURE: The Alto Cayma Medical Clinic, Arequipa, Peru, SA)
I am on my way to Arequipa to help with the organization of a historic event for both HBI and the Alto Cayma Medical Clinic. The purpose of this trip is to help organize and structure the "First Annual Alto Cayma Medical Conference and Training Symposium."

Father Alex and the Policlinico Maria Madre de la Misiones (the Alto Cayma Clinic) recently received two separate shipments of supplies from the United States. These supplies, medical equipment and durable goods, are a great compliment to the current infrastructure of the clinic. Some of the new equipment - two diagnostic ultrasound machines, a flexible sigmoidoscopy and endocosopy unit, and a 12-lead EKG unit – is above and beyond the current skills of the clinic staff.

HBI will help the Policlinico Maria Madre de la Misiones to organize and implement a small health care training conference for the providers working in the clinic. The training, facilitated through volunteer medical professionals from the United States who have expertise in the subject matter they will be presenting, will be a two-day intensive experience with both didactic and hands-on training. A select group of providers have been identified and have indicated their interest and availability in participating in the conference.

Equally important to the Policlinico Maria Madre de la Misiones is the identification and recruitment of Peruvian medical specialists to volunteer in the clinic. More and more patients are being seen in the clinic that requires specialty consultations and examinations. In order to more efficiently deliver specialty care – the clinic needs to attract a pool of volunteers that can donate their time weekly or monthly to provide specialty consultations. Essentially the clinic would create a mechanism for bringing more comprehensive care directly to the patients rather than referring them for care – which requires organizing child care, time away from work, transportation and assorted other expenses (both tangible and intangible). The conference will invite select specialists from the Arequipa area to participate in the trainings – as a mechanism for recruiting their involvement in the clinics operations.

This conference is an important "next step" in the development of HBI, as the conference helps to facilitate sustainable improvements in people’s health through increasing in-country public health clinic’s training and services. It creates a sustainable services - a major mission and focus of all HBI programs and projects. Most of all HBI is dedicated to supporting and mentoring the next generation of “change agents” in communities and countries of need. This conference allows HBI to unite in-country providers with North American volunteers to create collegial exchanges and opportunities for mentoring.

Please stay tuned to this Blog site for updates on the conference and ways that you can help to support the work of Health Bridges International as we work to build sustainable "bridges" for change around the world.

Thank you for all your support - Wayne Centrone, HBI Board President

Physicians Strike in Peru

13,000 Doctors Begin Strike in Peru

(LIP-ir) -- Julio Vargas, the president of the Peruvian Doctors Association, announced Monday that doctors would begin a strike on Tuesday January 8. As promised, over 13,000 doctors in the Andean country began a strike on Tuesday morning. According to Vargas, the union is requesting that health service in Peru be improved so patients in the country can be better assisted. Requests also include a higher budget to establish an adequate system and work with human resources departments, which are unmotivated because of low salaries.

Vargas explained that there were 7,000 medical centers that did not have the necessary funds or equipment to provide a quality service to patients."We are not even asking for a higher pay, but for bonuses that we are legally entitled to. Bonuses that would in some way ease the depressing economical situation doctors are living," affirmed Vargas. Peru's new Health Minister, Hernán Garrido Lecca labeled the strike "unfair" and demanded that the union end the strike so that negotiations could proceed. The Health Minister visited several of Lima's hospitals early this morning and stated that doctors were working as usual.

Emergency rooms, intensive care units and other such services will continue to operate, said César Palomino, the general secretary for the Peruvian Doctors Association.

An update from Peru

Peru's Government Begins Program to Keep Children from Begging on Streets

(LIP-ir) -- The Ministry of Women & Social Development (MIMDES) will carry out the first “raid” of parents who rent or use their children by dressing them in rags and have them beg in the streets, announced Minister Susana Pinilla.Although she did not mention where these raids would take place exactly, Pinilla explained that a ministerial group was evaluating the punishment bad parents would receive for these acts against children's rights."Any person that uses a child for these activities will receive a serious punishment, this is to avoid the use of children for begging on the streets in different ways, for example, begging on a corner, selling on the streets or used as ‘mules’", she stated.

She said the Ministry of Women would not allow children to work because this was a commitment made in the Free Trade Agreement between Peru and the United States.“We are firm on this subject, it is better that Peru's society understands the consequences of their actions, because we will use all the law's power to avoid this situation”, she stressed.On previous occasions, this initiative was named “Campaign against begging”, in which Peru's National Police along with the Public Ministry and the Ministry of Women took in abandoned street kids and placed them in the care of the National Institute of Family Welfare.

News source: ANDINA