German Doctor's Contribution Remembered

Earlier this month, about 70 doctors gathered at Ali Abad, Kabul’s main teaching hospital, to mourn the loss of a man they all considered an extraordinary teacher, mentor and friend.

The event, which had originally been planned as an awards ceremony for recently qualified specialists in internal medicine, instead became a remembrance for Dr Martin Wienback, a man many credit with single-handedly changing the face of medicine in Afghanistan.

Dr Wienbeck, 68, was killed in a road accident on April 27 while cycling in the capital.

He was formerly chair of the department of internal medicine in Augsburg, Germany, where his clinic served as a teaching hospital for the nearby University of Munich.

A pioneer and world specialist in the field of motility (contractions and muscle movement) in the gastrointestinal tract, he was the author of four books and 516 research papers. Such was his standing that European colleagues called him “the motility pope”.

He established the Wienbeck Foundation for Medical Development so that he could pass on his knowledge and skills. Shortly after his retirement at 65, he decided to help Afghanistan.

Arriving in Kabul in November 2002, Dr Wienback went to see the dean of Kabul University and simply asked, “What can I do to help?” He was directed to Ali Abad Hospital.

On arrival at Ali Abad, he was met by Dr Khwaja Qamaruddin Seddiqi, now head of the endoscopy unit, who says he could not believe his eyes when this renowned consultant, whose name he knew from research papers, stood before him and simply offered his services. Four endoscopies (internal examination of the gastrointestinal tract) were scheduled for that afternoon. Dr Wienbeck performed two of them

That day marked the beginning of a deep personal friendship between the two men.

"Martin was so close to me,” said Dr Seddiqi. “I was his assistant, helper and translator. When he died, I felt as if I had lost my own father.”

During his nearly three years in Afghanistan, Dr Wienbeck became, in the words of one of his female colleague, Dr Najla Naser, “the father of Afghan endoscopy”.

Paying tribute to his work, health minister Dr Sayeed Muhammad Amin Fatemi said: “Dr Martin was a foreigner who really worked for Afghans.”

The unit at Ali Abad, where Dr Wienback calmed patients in his self-taught Dari and where he gently trained medical colleagues, was dedicated to his memory and renamed the Wienbeck Endoscopy Centre.

On his arrival, Dr Wienbeck assessed the training and equipment needs not only of the hospital in Kabul but also of other major hospitals located in the country’s provincial capitals. In addition to a lack of medical equipment, the doctor quickly discovered that there was not a single qualified female endoscopist in the country, which meant that, in the highly segregated country, treatment was not available to female patients.

Afghan women are particularly susceptible to problems in the lower intestine, because of the tradition of having large families and starting childbearing at a young age.

In just three years, Dr Wienback changed the situation, by spending long days teaching students at the university, carrying out training and – back in Germany – raising money to buy second-hand equipment.

He usually spent eight months a year in Afghanistan. Each time he returned with endoscopes and books. Much was donated by medical colleagues, some bought at knock-down prices (A new endoscope costs around 25,000 US dollars).

The doctor he soon became a highly recognisable figure: a silver-haired westerner in a suit and bicycle clips riding around Kabul on his Chinese-made bicycle.

Dr Wienback’s work yielded results: by the end of last year he had equipped the teaching unit at Ali Abad with four endoscopes, and equipped an endoscopy centre at the women’s hospital. Equally significantly, he trained the first three female endoscopists in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taleban.

And he taught all the doctors in Kabul therapeutic endoscopy – the use of the endoscope not just as a diagnostic tool, but also as a means of treatment.

Dr Wienbeck trained five doctors from hospitals in the provinces of Balkh, Herat and Kandahar, gaining funding from Germany to run a postgraduate programme for them in Kabul.

One of these provincial doctors was Masoud Abdali from Herat. "Dr Martin had much patience,” he said. “Whenever we were facing problems, he would never lose patience. As long I live, I will never forget Martin, and I will follow in his path."

Gillian Sandford is a freelance journalist. Wahidullah Amani is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul. More information about the Wienbeck Foundation for Medical Development can be found at http://foundation.wienbeck.net