Gaubin Lutheran Rural Hospital (GRH) is situated on the south eastern tip of Karkar Island. It is roughly an hour boat ride from Rempi village off the northern coastline of Papua New Guinea in Madang Province.
The story of GRH began on the 11th September 1947 with the arrival of Dr. Edwin Gerhard Tscharke to Karkar Island. He had been previously working as a medical assistant to Dr Braun at Yagaum Health Centre. Dr Braun was a German Lutheran missionary who saw the need for adequate health care service for the people of Karkar. At the second Lutheran missionary conference after the Second World War, it was decided that a hospital should be built on Karkar Island.
Karkar Island at that time was also known as “Kurungut Island” because of the high number of persons limping around due to yaws, leprosy and injuries sustained during the Second World War. Dr Edwin was thus given strict instructions by Dr Braun to go to “Kurungut Island” and build a hospital to serve the people of Karkar.
Dr Edwin was indeed the right person for the job. He was born at Neale’s Flat, South Australia on 25 December 1918. His dream was to become a doctor. However, he was unable to continue with his studies and was forced to leave school at the age of 14; where he found work at a farm. Edwin left this at age 19 and trained as a carpenter. Because of his close association with the Lutheran Church, Tscharke felt called to do missionary work, and in 1941 was sent by the church to Finschhafen in Morobe province as a lay missionary.
In 1942, during the invasion of Papua New Guinea by the Japanese, Tscharke served with the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles. He survived an ordeal which saw his unit, all of them sick with dysentery, malaria and malnutrition, march overland to Port Moresby via the Bulldog Trail. The men were assumed by the army as ‘lost in action’, and when they finally arrived at Port Moresby, were nicknamed ‘the lost legion’.
While recuperating in Australia, Tscharke completed an army educational correspondence course in Anatomy Physiology for X-ray Technology, through the University of Melbourne. He returned to Papua New Guinea in 1943, and undertook a Tropical Medicine training course, from which he graduated as a medical assistant. He was posted to several different hospitals in Papua New Guinea, before being discharged from the Army in 1946.
Dr. Edwin had performed many medical and surgical procedures despite having no formal qualifications. He was thus recognized for his skills and expertise in 1989 and was awarded an honorary degree of the Doctor of Medicine by the University of Papua New Guinea.
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