GASTROENTEROLOGY FOUNDATION e.V.
Better medicine for the world's poorest.
Two complete endoscopy towers and an Erbotom have arrived in Bishkek! We would like to thank Olympus and Erbe Switzerland for their great support.
Finally, the large order of important endoscopic accessories has arrived safely at the ETC! We would like to thank the MediGlobe team for their great patience during the ordering process. Furthermore, many thanks to the Namaste Stiftung for their very generous financial support.
For the conversion and redesign of the two ERCP rooms in the endoscopy department of the Dhulikhel Hospital (ETC) in Nepal, two X-ray protection walls worth 4000 euros each were needed. Protecting staff from radiation damage is very important, especially given the extremely high number of examinations carried out in this high-volume center.
Dr. Roland Ott had the opportunity to present the Nepal project and the planned purchase to a very interested audience at the Rotary Club Munich-Blutenburg on 26 October 2023 (https://muenchen-blutenburg.rotary.de)
Fortunately, the commission classified us as worthy of support and transferred 4000 euros to the Gastrofoundation account at the end of December.
The second protective wall was financed by the Namaste Foundation (https://www.namaste-stiftung.de).
We would like to thank the Rotary Club and the Namaste Foundation for their generous support. Here are a few more pictures of the ETC team when the new protective walls arrived.
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Finally, the three protection goggles have arrived at the ETC.? Here you can see Prof. Gurung wearing one of the special glasses.
Matthias Breidert carried out a final equipment check at Olympus Switzerland today. Thanks to the very generous donation from Olympus, three complete towers of endoscopes can be sent to Kyrgyzstan.
A big thank you to the team at Olympus Switzerland!
From left: Mr. Breidert, Mr. Adams, Mrs. Kägi-Fuhrimann and Mr. Sigrist from Olympus Switzerland
Our member Wolfgang Blank has been active in ultrasound training in Nepal together with his wife for many years.?Read the following article.
News from the construction work in Peramiho: the first walls are going up.
Report from the 10th HoWEU at Dhulikhel Hospital in Nepal (5.-7.10.2023) From 5 to 7 October, the 10th Workshop for Ultrasound, Endoscopy and Gastroenterology took place at Dhulikhel Hospital (10th HoWEU at the ETC = Endoscopic Training Center). Traditionally, we have been supporting this event for ten years as a Nepal group within the Gastrofoundation.?Rudolf Riepl, Volker Stagge, Michael Guggenberger, Konstanze Tzavella and Roland Ott travelled to Nepal for this workshop – as always at their own expense.?Parallel to the mentioned workshop, the third Workshop of Endoscopy Assistant of Nepal took place. Samira, the head of the endoscopy assistants in the ETC, has successfully founded this professional association of assistants against some resistance in her own country and with the support of our Nepal group and has been president ever since. This was a very important step towards spreading the high standard of training of the endoscopy nurses in the ETC throughout Nepal and raising the level of assistance and hygiene across the board. Our colleague V. Stagge took part in this event as a speaker.
On Thursday, the full-day training for ultrasound began. 33 medical colleagues from all over Nepal participaed. The principles of the technique and the possible pathological findings in the individual organs were demonstrated in lectures by Nepalese doctors and Mr. Riepl, Mr. Stagge, Mr. Guggenberger and Mr. Ott. ?In three sessions, there was the opportunity to perform sonography on patients themselves under supervision. Mr. Riepl had prepared gel models and a meat model on which an olive could be punctured from the outside. As every year, this was a real highlight for the participants.
On Friday, the focus was on endoscopy. At the beginning, accessories, the functionality of the endoscopes and the hygiene of the endoscopes were demonstrated.?In the other two sessions, dilation of stenosis, varicose vein banding, polypectomy and bleeding therapy (clip, injection and beamer) were demonstrated and the participants were offered the opportunity to practice these techniques themselves under supervision. As every year, the enthusiasm and interest in learning the techniques was very high among the participants.?It should also be noted that either plastic models (e.g. polypophant) or pig stomachs, which came as a waste product from the local butcher and were artfully prepared by the sisters for the respective interventions, were used for the exercises.
On the last day, Saturday, 80 listeners from all over Nepal came for the live demonstrations and the subsequent lectures, as well as medical staff from the hospital.?It started with two live endoscopies, with V. Stagge and R. Riepl carrying out the examinations in a team with a Nepalese colleague.?Subsequently, there were eleven presentations from Nepal and five from German colleagues during the day. The selection of topics was always relevant to practice, and the presentation of the Nepalese colleagues was consistently at a very high level.?The following German speakers presented their contributions as a live link via Zoom: Prof. Thomas Rösch (Hamburg, UKE, "Innovation in GI Endscopy") Prof. Roland Schmid (TU Munich, Klinikum r.d. Isar, "Advances in Pancreatic Cancer") PD Dr. Kaspar Trudinger (Gastroenterologist from Switzerland, "Clinical challenges in Colonic Polyps") Prof. H.-D. Allescher President of the Gastrofoundation, Klinikum Garmisch Partenkirchen, "Management of Bile Duct Stones. Timing, selection and technique") The four topics were presented in a highly professional manner. Fortunately, there were no technical problems thanks to electricity protection via an extra solar-powered grid.
According to the participants, the workshop with the final congress is unique in Nepal. Only e.g. India offers comparable events in the region.?This encourages us all to continue to actively and unselfishly support this project, which was started many years ago by our members Dirk Hagena, Sepp Philipp and Matthias Breidert. In the run-up to the workshop, Rudolf Riepl visited the hospital in Dolakha and spoke with the director Mr. Tamarkar Dipesh about the need for endoscopic lines. In an operating room there is currently a 160 mm Olympus tower. Endoscope devices are not yet available. The greatest need is to be able to perform gastroscopies in a timely manner. The most common indication would be the detection of gastric malignancies and the clarification of bleeding (esophageal varices). A doctor and an endoscopy nurse are already being trained for gastroscopy at Dhulikhel Hospital. The procurement of a gastroscope is still to be clarified.
Our members Dr. Markus Dollhopf, Prof. Matthias Breidert and Prof. Bruno Neu supervised a workshop in Pristina. In addition to presentations, they also gave a hands-on workshop, which was enthusiastically received.
The project is making huge progress and we are delighted to have gained two new active members. Thank you very much!
Patrick Mosler visited our project in Ndanda and performed endoscopic procedures under great local challenges.
Dr. Volker Stagge, member of the Nepal Group, talks about his volunteer work in Nepal in this podcast:
https://soundcloud.com/marketing-860487273/inside-ilmtalklinik-vol-3-nepalhilfe
Our members Prof. Dr. Matthias Breidert and Dr. Arnd Schulte-Bockholt spent several weeks in Bishkek. They brought various surgical devices (proctoscopes, rectoscopes incl. ligature set) with them. Many thanks to the donors! From 11.9.-13.9., 15 endoscopies were performed. They also gave presentations at the 29th World Congress of Echinococci.
The Gastroenterology Foundation is paying the first installment of the unfortunately very expensive specialist training for a budding gastroenterologist from Mwanza on Lake Victoria.
The Gastroenterology Foundation e.V. has launched several cooperation projects with various hospitals in Tanzania, such as the Endoscopy and Oncology Training Center in the capital Dar es Salaam, which was founded in 2014.
The aim of the training to become a specialist in gastroenterology is to provide financial support for the 3-year MSc Medical Gastroenterology and Hepatology course.
The tuition and administration fees in these Master's programs at Tanzanian universities for the 3-year training amount to up to EUR 24,000 as part of the postgraduate program at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science School of Medicine (MUHAS).
This amount is not affordable for most young doctors after completing their medical studies.
The structural analysis of the current situation of gastroenterology training in Tanzania comes to the conclusion that the transition to the Master's program in Medical Gastroenterology and Hepatology is the biggest bottleneck in the careers of many highly motivated and well-trained young doctors.
Do you want to support us? Please contact geier_a2@ukw.de.
The construction work for the endoscopy department in Peramiho is in full swing, the excavation of the soil is largely completed.
Establishment of a professional society for endoscopy assistance in Nepal: Nepalese Endoscopy Technician Society
About 5 years ago, the idea arose to found a separate professional society for endoscopy assistants in Nepal. Here, too, the nurses in endoscopy have a high level of responsibility, special training and a lot of experience in areas that are of considerable importance, such as assistance in difficult therapeutic procedures, for example in ERCP, device reprocessing, sedation, hygiene. There are no national standards in Nepal for the implementation of these tasks or for training. In order to create a supra-regional qualification, to recognise this specialisation as well as to enable further training and networking, a professional society is indispensable. The nurses of the ETC in Dhulikhel, Nepal were willing to go down this path and create an organization for the whole of Nepal. This process, with the fulfilment of all the legal requirements, the motivation of colleagues from other clinics and the creation of the structures, has now led to success after a few years and with the use of a lot of strength and patience. The Nepalese Endoscopy Technician Society was officially recognized in March 2023 and opened at Dhulikhel Hospital during a ceremony and workshop. The president of the society is Samirabhupal Baynju, the senior endoscopy nurse of the gastrointestinal endoscopy department at Dhulikhel Hospital. The German and European groups, DEGEA and ESGENA, have sent greetings and generous offers of support and cooperation for this special step. The Gastroenterology Foundation also continues to support this group generously. For the future, we would like to see more cooperation with German endoscopy assistants under the umbrella of the Gastrofoundation and cordially invite all colleagues to organize themselves here and actively support the progress in Nepal!
Starting our support for the construction of an endoscopy department. Below you can see the plan.?Initial training support for female doctors. Initial creation of requirements for personnel, equipment and accessories.
On March 9, 2023, the television station ATV interviewed Prof. Dr. Matthias Breidert, board member of the Gastrofoundation (GF) . Matthias Breidert reported on the activities of the GF since 2019, the problems of the health system in Kosovo from his point of view, the importance of gastroenterology for diagnostics and treatment and pointed out the good and trustful cooperation whith the University of Pristina. In the interview, Misrad Dervishi, a former patient of Matthias Breidert, is also interviewed. ?He comes from North Macedonia, but has strong family ties to Kosovo and knows the conditions there very well. He has always unselfishly accompanied the development of endoscopy by Matthias Breidert.?The video is supplemented by recordings of the workshop on the following day, in particular presentation of the practical exercises on the pig model. ?After the interview, the Head of Gastroenterology from Pristina (Dr. Komoni) will visit the Director (CEO) of the Internal MediGovering Board of SHSKUK. She has only been in office for 1 month, but wants to promote cooperation with the GF. Needs of equipment as well as strategic orientation were discussed. On March 10th, a shortened workshop took place, as the three colleagues and members of the GF Markus Dollhopf, Bruno Neu and Marc Dauer could not arrive due to the cancellation of their flights. The workshop will start with two presentations by Matthias Breidert (foreign body removal, detection of polyps and management of complications). Subsequently, 6 patients are endoscoped live, partly by Dr. Abri Veliu (Head of Endoscopy Pristina), partly by Matthias Breidert, who provides assistance in complex cases. Cases from colonoscopy (large pedunculated polyp (endoloop), polyposis syndrome ) are clarified. The examinations will be broadcast live to the auditorium (Telemedicine Center) and from there to the 5 clinics in the country. Furthermore, two cases with stenosis in the oesophagus are discussed and bougated. In addition, material is provided for further care (bougies, slings, clips, etc.) After a short break, the workshop took place from 13-16.00 with practical exercises on the pig model. ?The workshop was attended by 30 colleagues.?vAfterwards, there was a joint dinner of all participants, including nurses and young residents. The next workshop is scheduled to take place in early October 2023.
It's time to say a big "thank you"!
At the end of February 2023, the Endoscopic Training Center (ETC) at Dhulikhel Hospital received a new Olympus 190 series endoscopy system with a CV-190 video processor, a CLV-190 xenon light source and a OEV262H - 26" HD monitor from the Gastroenterology Foundation e.V. Munich. To go with this, the ETC also received a GIF-H185 video gastroscope. This means that the Endoscopic Training Center, which is the reference center for interventional endoscopy in Nepal, has an endoscopy system with a better and more lifelike endoscopic image and significantly improved resolution than before. Now the foundation for even better and more efficient diagnostics has been laid. This endoscopy system also paves the way for a step-by-step further modernization of the endoscopes with Olympus 190 series devices. The average age of the endoscopes in use so far is about 17 years. The whole project took almost exactly one year from the decision in February 2022 to its realization. A good 130 days passed just waiting for the import permit from the Nepalese authorities. From the first cost estimate to the arrival of the pictures of the construction of the plant in Dhulikhel, almost 170 emails were exchanged between the parties involved. The costs for the system and the endoscope amounted to approx. 18,500 €. In addition, there are about 850 € for transport and insurance. In total, more than €19,300 was spent. First and foremost, a big thank you goes to our donors and members who made this campaign possible! The purchase of the equipment was only possible thanks to the generous support of Olympus Germany, in particular Dr. Harald Dremel, Mr. Peter Wöhrle and Mr. Peter Müller.?We would like to thank Mrs. Isabella Aigner and Mr. Robert Gassner from the forwarding company Emons Air & Sea GmbH for the transport and the almost infinite patience with us.?Another thank you is for Dr. Claus Kiehling for taking the 185 gastroscope with him to Nepal.
The technicians of Dhulikhel Hospital unpacking the items
Fixing the new monitor
The full new system
Sumitra unpacking the new gastroscope.
News from Pristina! Drite Rushiti, who actively supports our project from Switzerland, visited the department and was able to see for herself the progress of the planning. The Erbotom donated by the GF last year had not been working successfully, we have supplied additional material and it is now ready for use. The loungers are also used. Ms. Kimori shows the accessory material. We are now planning on-site workshops.
After two visits by Matthias Breidert, the cooperation agreement is signed. In addition to material support, the team is to be trained primarily in hands-on training.
