Before the event in Santa Fe, Sitzmann had invited Krüggeler to Paraguay, where the head of the Latin America Department could get an idea of the projects around the “Sanatorio Alemán”, which the KAAD alumnus and his team have been continuously expanding in Obligado in the south of the country since the end of the 1980s.
The Covid pandemic pushed the hospital to its limits, causing many casualties despite the tireless efforts of the entire team. Still depressed, (who himself suffered a severe Covid infection) said, “Since mid-2019, I’ve had to issue more death certificates than in the entire past 30 years.”
But the physician has already responded by having the region’s only oxygen processing plant installed, which can also serve surrounding hospitals. Plans to establish a faculty of health sciences in collaboration with the Universidad del Cono Sur de las Américas in Asunción are also being intensively pursued.
