My sister was an intern nurse at a rural hospital in Nigeria this past summer. She sent us plenty of action-packed emails about her adventures, observations and experiences.
One email she sent us highlighted the alarming frequency of auto accidents she witnessed both on the road and in the surgery room at all hours of the day.
Another email highlighted the lack of a working blood bank refrigerator in the hospital she worked. You can read excerpts from both these emails here.
In later emails, she told me that the hospital had tried to run one before but the stable electricity issues were a big problem. She also said the hospital told her that back-up power sources (i.e. generators) were too expensive. Plus, the hospital didn’t have extra staff to keep one running properly.
Bottomline: Blood bank refrigerators are too expensive for poor rural hospitals like the one my sister worked at.
When I received the email about the blood bank issue I immediately researched the Internet for affordable blood bank refrigerators that were hearty enough for “gray” electricity and could run for long lengths of time on alternative power sources (like generators etc) while keeping running costs low.
You can’t just go to Amazon and search for one with those specifications.
If you Google “blood bank refrigerators” you come up with options like this:
Helmer, Inc. – i.Series iB245 Blood Bank Refrigerator
My guess is that this model might have a hard time operating at the hospital my sister was at.
I’m going to continue my hunt for a blood bank refrigerator that works well in very rural areas with unstable electricity. It also needs to be very affordable and have low running costs.
Let me know if you find one before I do.
