At 7p.m. Peru Time the contents were made public via radio and social media
Please click on this link to read the Spanish text on Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/diospi.suyana.peru
Dear honourable Peruvians,
We greet you all most cordially from the Hospital Diospi Suyana and express our deepest sympathies to those who are suffering during this pandemic.
With this declaration we send an open letter to the President of our Republic. Its contents have a great significance for many and also show that unfortunately we are not all equal in front of the law.
Dear Mr President Francisco Sagasti Hochhausler, in the name of my wife Mrs Dr Martina John and myself, the founders and directors of the Hospital Diospi Suyana, we would like to cordially thank you for your visit to Curahuasi on 24th March. You and Health Minister Dr Oscar Ugarte saw the daily running of our hospital with your own eyes. Thus you can verify that we truly help the poorest and most-needy of our country.
To date our missionary hospital has treated 418,000 patients, who have come from all 25 Peruvian States. It was always our wish to found a hospital that could provide the Andean population with the same high medical standards as the upper class living in the Capital enjoys in the top clinics.
We thank God that since 2007 our dream has turned into a reality. The Hospital Diospi Suyana is highly esteemed, as shown by received patient-feedback forms and is supported by the population. A year ago when we saw ourselves threatened by some politicians 1.6mio Peruvians visited our social websites and thus, indirectly and directly, expressed their huge support.
On 3rd August 2020 the official governmental office “El Peruano” published the Emergency Bill N° 090-2020 that allows foreign doctors to work at state hospitals during the pandemic. This permission waived the usual documents required, like e.g. the recognition of one’s title, the equivalence of the degrees or the Medical Chamber’s temporary licence. These “well-meaning doctors” only needed a legalisation of their titles in their home country with an apostille.
Unfortunately this emergency bill does not apply to hospitals like ours whose focus is not on the financial bottom line.
During your visit we asked you, Mr President, and the Health Minister, if you could extend the bill to include all institutions who are working altruistically during the current health crisis. An analysis of several constitutional experts supports such an amendment.
Six weeks have passed since we expressed our written request to you. Exactly one month ago we asked for a meeting with the Health Minister. But to date the receipt of our letter has not even been confirmed, never mind a date put in the diary for a meeting.
Up to 6th May Diospi Suyana has diagnosed 1,770 persons with Covid 19. Of the 73 (correction: on Friday we admitted three further Covid-patients, thus 76) that we had to admit to the hospital due to the severity of their condition, 55 survived; this equates to a percentage of 75%. We thank God for these good results.
We believe that justice demands that the law treats all hospitals that are serving the community in the same way. In this context I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the missionary doctors who work at the hospital receive no salary, but are supported financially through donations from churches and a circle of friends. In 2020 the Peruvian State invested a lot of money in order to pay Cuban doctors. Missionary hospitals pursue the declared goal of providing medical assistance to the needy of the disadvantaged strata of society. And as mentioned above with this intent we have to date been able to treat 418,000 patients.
Finally, Mr President, I would like to ask you most politely that deal with our petition. The need is great and we could send further missionary doctors into the Apurímac Region provided that you enable a legal basis for us.
I bid you farewell with cordial greetings from Curahuasi, the world’s aniseed world capital. A city that has seen many politicians come and go. Politicians who promised a lot, but kept very little, who delivered long speeches, but in which they did not specifically address the needs of the local population. I am convinced that you as an eye-witness of the Hospital Diospi Suyana will find a solution by the end of your term of office, the 28th July. —–
Addressing the Peruvian People: dear fellow countrymen, dear fellow countrywomen, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your support over the past years in which we have had the privilege of treating patients coming from all four corners of Peru. It is our declared desire to be able to do even more for you in future. But we need the government’s assistance so that our service is (legally) possible.
May God bless you!
