Peter from Kenya, Carlos from Cuba, and Me (From left to right)
A portable ECG next to the WeServe Drexel toolbox
Working on a DevilBiss oxygen concentrator
Peter and I working on the Siemens MRI machine
Today I leave the Gambia and head back home. I have mixed feelings about leaving because I really miss home but I've made so many good friends here. Hopefully, I will return in the future and continue my work assisting the hospitals.
Upon arriving in Banjul I checked into the Atlantic hotel because the Royal Victorian Teaching Hostpial (RVTH) didn't have any accommodations for me. At the hospital, I worked with a Kenyan named Peter and a Cuban named Carlos. They both were doing volunteer work as well. Their mission was to repair the nonfunctioning medical equipment. At RVTH, there is a tremendous amount of old and new equipment. It is the largest and most advanced hospital in the Gambia. It is supported by its tremendous amount of donors. It houses a little over 400 beds and this hospital is where all the others send the patients they can't treat. The hospital was always busy and I had a lot of work to do when I was there. Here is some of the equipment I was able to fix and diagnose.
David (the German missionary worker) and I with the quad at the Kanilai fire station.
One of the outfits worn at the Kanilai festival
The stadium where the celebrations and traditional rituals took place.
After returning to Bwiam, I continued to teach Saiko and Alieu. Mr. Badgie (Chief of the hospital) planned for my next journey to the Royal Victorian Teaching Hospital in Banjul. However, the scheduling got messed up and I will be leaving tomorrow (Sunday May 23) instead of this past Wednesday. In the meantime I was able to efficiently teach Saiko and Alieu Microsoft Office programs and I've been quizzing them daily on different biology topics. During the week I got to experience hunting for monkey, tasting monkey, quading at the President's town (Kanilai), seeing the traditional Kanilai festival, and dancing in part of the festival.
Checking the continuity of the circuit board elements in the anesthetic machine.
Disassembling an oxygen concentrator.
Suited up for a hernia surgery with one of the Cuban doctors
A repaired oxygen concentrator: we taped the humidifier together. As you can see, some of these machines can get really dirty
I’ve just finished up the week at Bansang accompanied by Saiko. It gets extremely hot here (reaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit) almost everyday. It took about 8 hours to reach Bansang, but now I can say I've experienced a lot of the Gambian landscape and have seen most of the villages. At Bansang I was able to visit a fire station, go into surgery with one of the Cuban doctors, see a local concert, and meet some Peace Corps members helping out the town. The hospital at Bansang is the second biggest in Gambia. It is however still very old. Here there are a lot of technically advanced machines, but again they're still old.
A very moving moment happened today. Upon repairing a oxygen concentrator, I was able to see it immediately used by a patient in desperate need of oxygen supplementation. It felt amazing to have such a direct impact on a patient care. It can feel somewhat impersonal when you repair medical devices and don't see the direct or larger picture at hand.
Many machines here are foreign and do not have manuals or instruction guides. Here is some of the equipment I was able to repair though:
12 Devilbiss oxygen concentrators
2 Autoclaves
An ultrasound
A thermal ultrasound
3 centrifuges
I also diagnosed several equipment but was unable to fix due to a lack of supplies:
3 Devilbiss oxygen concentrators: All need new bottle humidifiers
Suction machine: needs new motor
Glostavent anesthetic machine: needs new circuit board element (capacitor)
Teaching Saiko and Alieu the newest version of Microsoft Powerpoint, Word, and Excel
Saiko and Alieu studying for a quiz on Cellular Biology that I gave them.
Saiko and I fixing the autoclaves.
Hello everyone! I was unable to post my blog entries when I was in the Gambia (due to no solid internet connection), but here are some of the entries I composed:
Over the past week I've become more accumulated to the environment and the lifestyle in Gambia. Chirag returned to America unfortunately, but I met a German missionary worker who is 22 and speaks English. His name is David, and we've become pretty good friends over the past week. He introduced me to all of his friends and coworkers on at the church. I’ve had the pleasure to play some futbol (soccer) with the locals, watch some of their matches with other schools, have a goat wake me up at 5 am, assist in building a local house, taste local food, visit the Gambian river, go to church, and help plant some banana trees around the missionary. I’ve also been picking up some Mandinka language (one of the six tribal languages spoken) and it makes the locals so happy to see you attempting to learn the language.
I've made some coworker friends at the hospital: Alieu and Saiko. Since most of the equipment was repaired by Chirag, during the week I've completed a proposed curriculum for Alieu and Saiko to study biology, biochemistry, and radiology with the textbooks the hospital contains. The Chief Executive of the hospital, Mr. Badgie, has approved the curriculum and is incorporating their learning with the nurses training. I believe this will assist them in expanding their knowledge from just being a technician.
Three autoclaves came in today and one was fixed with a quick cleaning of some of the machines components. The other two both had their power chords cut off and there was no replacement parts available. All of the machines are functional with the exception of an oxygen concentrator that needs a replacement valve.
Next week I travel inland to a town called, Bansang.
Andrew, Aliou, and Chirag working on oxygen concentrator.
Andrew has limited internet connection and has asked me to post for him:
Greetings from the republic of the Gambia. I met up with Chirag the other day and we traveled to the town Bwiam, where he has been working on some equipment. Most the equipment has been repaired thanks to the amazing work Chirag and the the Gambians ( Saiko Gibba and Aliou Colley) have done. The hospital has recently started up a biomedical engineering department and I'm currently working with them on developing a curriculum and help on technical work. I've been teaching them basic biology and other subjects necessary. I've also been teaching the nurses basic computer skills, including Microsoft word and excel, so they can improve on their patient database. I will however be traveling to other hospitals next week to fix some of their equipment with my teammates Aliou and Saiko. I'm trying to get as much repairing done as possible while also giving them enough experience to repair on their own and teach others. It's like the saying, " catch a man a fish and he'll be satisfied for a day, teach the man to fish and he'll never be hungry".
The machines that we repaired include microscopes, centrifuges, ultrasound machines, oxygen concentrators, sterilizers, surgery lights, and a physical therapy bike. I worked very closely with two individuals (Alieu and Saikou) who are currently the hospitals electronics specialists (electricians). They are keen to become biomedical engineers or technicians, so this is a great opportunity for them. The next step will be to continue to repair any equipment that the departments may find, and mainly proceed to train and educate these two individuals about what we have done and general biomedical concepts. I have also agreed to run IT workshops with any interested staff member so that they are able to use a computer.
Above are pictures of the hospital's front gate (to the right) and us fixing an oxygen concentrator. This week, we will continue our work, and attempt to fix the equipment at the hospital's lab. There, they have some faulty centrifuges and microscopes.
The administration has paired me up with two gentlemen, Aliou and Saikou, who are currently the electricians at the hospital. Both are very interested in biomedical engineering, the main reason why they will work with me. The work plan is as follows:
1) Assess equipment at each department taking note of location, equipment type, brand name and model number (if applicable), issues, and current status. 2) Group by equipment type and attempt to repair by trouble shooting. If parts are needed, order or make parts. 3) Have staff play an integral role in the entire process.
The WeServe program strives to provide solutions through service in both short term and long term. It is most beneficial to train and teach the staff so that they are able to repair equipment in the absence of WeServe members. Also, this is a learning process for both them and for us. By working together, we can solve the issues quickly and both parties come out with something.
Please let me know of any suggestions that you may have about my work plan.
Today, we were able to fix a couple of sphygmomanometers and 1 oxygen concentrator. I will upload pictures soon! Tomorrow, repairs will continue on the remaining faulty oxygen concentrators.
I have arrived at the hospital yesterday evening. Today, I met with the Chief of Nursing Operations, Mr. Bia, who formally welcomed me to the hospital. After the meeting, I was giving a tour by the head of the mechanics team, Famara. The hospital is quite large, and had many patients today. I will begin assessing the equipment tomorrow, so that I can begin to determine what is wrong and try and fix it.
My name is Chirag Patel, a junior here at Drexel. I will soon be embarking on a journey to a hospital in Bwiam, Gambia called the Sulayaman Junkung General Hospital (SJGH), along with Andrew (who will be joining me in a few weeks). SJGH is a 200 bed health facility serving a population of approximately 100,000 people. It is located in a village called Bwiam, about 3 hours outside of Banjul. Some of the challenges that the hospital is currently facing include: shortage of doctors and trained staff, shortage of electricity, limited access to educational resources and technical information, lack of biomedical equipment and more importantly, the absence of a qualified biomedical engineer. Due to the inability of the minimally-trained maintenance team to handle imported medical equipment, there is a genuine need for a biomedical (clinical) engineer capable of facilitating the installation, restoration, and maintenance of the equipment, as well as promoting sustainability through training workshops. We will be serving as the hospital's clinical engineering for a period of two months. Our responsibilities include:
·Conduct a thorough assessment of the hospital’s medical equipment inventory
·Supervise and train staff on medical equipment
·Facilitate installation, restoration, and maintenance of equipment
·Create user and service manuals for staff to reference
·Develop a protocol for broken equipment management
·Develop standard operating procedures (SOP) for equipment
·Assist local health professionals with community health initiatives such as workshops on hygiene, disease transmission, etc.
We both have been training with faculty and staff in the Biomed department so that we are able to complete our objectives to the best of our ability. We have been trained in basic electronics, ultrasound, EEG, sphygmomanometers, and other medical equipment (including autoclaves, centrifuges, oxygen concentrators, incubators, etc.). In addition, we shadowed several biomedical engineers at Lankenau hospital, who have also been on similar trips. The engineers at the hospital have given us a general overview of the equipment we may encounter there. Throughout the training, we learned how to efficiently and effectively trouble shoot so that we can identify and resolve issues with the equipment there. The training will prove to be invaluable to our trip, and we are very thankful to everyone who has put time aside for us. I, personally, am very excited for this trip, and will write more once I arrive in Africa!
