OCR

By agreement between the contracting parties, reached over shortly after signing of the Toquepala project construction contract, Southern Peru Copper Corporation assumed the responsibility for provision of medical personnel and services to cover adequately the construction period requirements of both Contractor employees and SPCC mine develoment personnel and their dependants. At the time that Contractor personnel began arriving on the jobsite, Southern Peru Copper Corporation had in operation at Toquepala'a 4-bed hospital with attendant. laboratory and X-ray equipment. This facility, together with doctor- supervised first aid stations established in the latter half of 1956 in the Ilo Port and railroad Km. 162 areas, served the project until completion of the temporary hospital erected in the Incapuquio Cortractor's camp. Prior to the opening of this hospital, all serious medical cases were processed to Peruvian government hospitals in the towns of IIo and Tacna, and cases requiring specialist attention were directed to the cities of Arequipa and Lima. In mid-December of 1956, construction of the Incapuquio temporary hospital was begun. This prefabricated wood panel structure, 170' long by 40' wide, with 24-bed capacity, was officially opened in early July 1957. A maternity annex, of similar construction 40' long x 26' wide, was completed around November 1, 1957. This hospital, supplemented by field aid stations in all major work areas with male nurses in constant Attendance and supplied with industrial first aid equipment, provided necessary medical service until completion of the permanent Smelter Gamp hospital in December 1958 and the permanent Toquepala area hospital in February 1959. The 1957 Asiatic Influenza epidemic in South America also reached the Toquepala project, effecting particularly the Peruvian workers in the areas of higher altitude. Emergency isolation measures immediately initiated at Ilo forestalled the occurrence of a local epidemic. Project camps sanitation, insect and pest control, and potable water treatment wore the responsibility of the Contractor until absorbed by permanent operation forces in mid-l959.