Biomedical shortages affecting maintenance

One of the important sections in the health system is the biomedical department which is responsible for repairs, maintenance, testing and calibrating machines and other apparatus used at hospitals, including those in the neonatal unit.

In an interview with Sunday Newsday, a biomedical department worker (who did not want to be named) provided insight into why maintenance of equipment at hospitals was not ideal.

He said biomedical work was a field in which technicians specialised in repairs to medical imaging ma-chines or sterilisers, clinical lab instruments or dialysis machines.

He said it was "unfortunate" that the biomedical department was not able to fully comply with full maintenance of equipment. As with many other areas in the health sector, this was because of insufficient staff. He said the shortage has meant that maintenance work was prioritised according to categories.

Under category one, is equipment which is critical to a patient’s survival, eg ventilators. They are serviced "ac-cording to the manufacturer’s recommendation." A work schedule is done for other types of equipment.

"There is not enough staff. We are only outing fires," he said.

Preventive maintenance is not possible on old equipment. They were obsolete and re-placement parts are not available. The biomedical department simply ensures that "they are working and get results."

The department where he works has lost more than half of its staff. There are only 15 "technical people" left. He said his department used to be responsible for all the equipment at hospitals across the country. Now they carry out work for North West and North Central Regional Health Authorities under whose management falls — Port-of-Spain General Hospital, Eric Williams Medical Sciences Com-plex, Mt Hope Women’s Hospital.

He said many people have expressed the view that maintenance work should be contracted out.

However, he said most companies supplying equipment have not invested in training technicians but concentrated on sales.

New contracts signed between the RHAs and companies for the supply of equipment now include a clause for five-years of maintenance but the worker said training for biomedical staff has been left out, although it was provided for end users. The recent purchase of diagnostic equipment totalling $56 million is one example.

When the Eric Wil-liams Medical Sciences Complex opened up and foreign equipment was bought for the facility, the ministry paid for certified training for all biomedical workers.

One or two members of staff were also sent abroad to train and trainers were brought down.

An engineer from General Electric was based at the complex for a few years.

"Most times the supplier is not obligated to do anything regarding training technical staff. In recent times training has been non-existent.

"Some equipment need software and you can’t train someone for one week and expect him to be able to fix an MRI, but the training will ensure that the department knows we are not being ripped off. "

The worker said training for technicians was part of contracts when the biomedical department had input in writing the specifications for tender documents. He said most tendering is now done through the Project Administration Unit of the Health Ministry. Recent requests for tender have been "weak in the area of service training for technical staff."