POST 00694E : PIS EQUIPMENT PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK

POST 00694E : PIS EQUIPMENT PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK Follow-up on Posts 00670E, 00676E and 00688E 5 July 2004 _______________________________ Abdoulaye Djigo (mailto:[email protected]) from Sénégal gives his point of view on the performance of some refrigerators. The example he gives of a private fridge highlights, in my opinion, a widespread problem around the world, the attitude towards public property. We could as well talk about vehicles. How many old models still roam the roads of the world because they are private while public ones (governments', etc...) have been scrapped long ago. _______________________________ In 2002 we had the opportunity to carry out, during a cold chain training workshop, a control of the working condition of refrigerators SIBIR 170 litres and collect data from head nurses at health centres. There were 186 refrigerators donated by the African Development Bank for a project covering three regions in Senegal. The refrigerators were installed in September 2001 and helped to improve immunization coverage in recipient areas. Generally they worked in a satisfactory manner. Out of the 186 refrigerators, 3 were found defective and replaced by the manufacturer. During the course of our tours in 2004, five refrigerators were reported to be out of order. Officials reported excessive cooling for three of these. Our experience indicates that it is more often the result of poor operation, leading to thermostat and electrical resistance damage. There is a real problem of utilization. In 2002, we came across a nurse who said he had bought a refrigerator from an expatriate. It was an absorption refrigerator 30 years old at the time. He had used it for 16 years and sold it still in good working condition. This shows the reliability of some equipment cannot be questioned. However operations methods need to be reviewed. Nevertheless, we should not exonerate so easily the manufacturers as they should always follow-up on their equipment in order to understand and take into account problems of premature deterioration of some parts (resistance, thermostat, needle thermometers, piezoelectric lighting, etc. Abdoulaye Oumar Djigo ______________________________________________________________________________ ____________________ Visit the TECHNET21 Website at http://www.technet21.org You will find instructions to subscribe, a direct access to archives, links to reference documents and other features. ______________________________________________________________________________ To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message to : mailto:[email protected] Leave the subject area BLANK In the message body, write unsubscribe TECHNET21E ______________________________________________________________________________ The World Health Organization and UNICEF support TechNet21. The TechNet21 e-Forum is a communication/information tool for generation of ideas on how to improve immunization services. It is moderated by Claude Letarte and is hosted in cooperation with the Centre de coopération internationale en santé et développement, Québec, Canada (http://www.ccisd.org) ______________________________________________________________________________