General Info:
The young professor Dr. Katja Schwenzer-Zimmerer is a specialist in cleft lip and palate who practices in Basel. Twice a year she flies with a German-Swiss aid team to Cambodia where they spend 14 days, operating on children with these deformities. Because the Pol Pot terror regime nearly eradicated the academic elite in the 1970s, the country suffers from a lack of trained medical specialists. The doctors from Europe concentrate part of their effort on training medical personnel in the areas of plastic and reconstructive surgery. We supported this project with our donation in 2008 to the international non-profit organization rzte der Welt e.V. ( Doctors of the World ). There is one doctor for every 6, 570 people in the Philippines. In Germany, the ratio is one doctor for every 333 people. And even when a doctor is nearby, many islanders cannot afford medical care. For this reason, seca supported a relief project in the slums on the Filipino island Cebu in December 2007, where medical staff from the " rzte f r die dritte Welt" ( Doctors for Developing Countries ) organization are treating the poorest of the poor, who live in huts of trash. Two German doctors have been on Cebu permanently since July 2005. Their work is voluntary most while on holiday. In one week, they and their local staff treat about 600 children and adults. The seca donation helps to cover the monthly costs of the Cebu slum project including the costs for medicines, the salaries of the local help, food and subsistence for the German medical staff during their deployment, as well as the costs for the Doctors House and ambulance. The "German Rotary Volunteers Doctors e.V." ( GRVD ) is a humanitarian non-profit relief agency, which mediates and organises the voluntary use of doctors, dentists and physical therapists in developing countries. About 100 of the approx. 800 German members are continuously on the road to help people worldwide - most of their holiday time and always without pay. This also includes the former chief physician of a Germany eye clinic, Dr. Sch tte, who today operates gratuitously as an eye surgeon at a clinic in Ghana. In 2006, seca supported the society with a donation. The money was used for the flights of the "Volunteer Doctors" to Africa amongst other things. The GRVD books and pays for the flight, takes care of the accommodations, vaccinations and insurances. In addition, part of the donation was used for the continuing education of the volunteer doctors locally. In November 2005, a second large donation was given to the station for burn injuries in Tiaz in Yemen. seca thereby supported the work of "Hammer Forums e.V.". The society founded in 1991 in Westphalian Hamm concentrates on the medical aid for sick and injured children in regions of crisis and war zones. Doctors and nursing staff work pro bono, e.g. on holiday. The long-term goal of the society is to establish adequate facilities locally to limit the number of children who have to come to Germany for medical treatment to a minimum. The seca donation was used to procure material for the station. Children with severe burn injuries who may only survive if they are quickly treated and followed up by expert therapy are brought to the station. Children in Yemen are often victims of burn injuries as a result of accidents at home with kerosine stoves and lamps that are common in the country. In addition, the money was used in training local physical therapists, who have specialised in the after-care of children with burn injuries.