Operating rooms at Halibet Hospital
- Where: ASMARA, ERITREA
- What we do: ORTHOPEDIC HOSPITAL HALIBET
- For whom: ALL PATIENTS OF HALIBET HOSPITAL
- What you can do: DONATE 10 € A MONTH
Title of the project
Operating rooms at Halibet Hospital
Place of the action
Asmara, Eritrea
Description of the context
In Eritrea there are complex socio-sanitary conditions such as limited availability… For several years, Annulliamo la Distanza in partnership with Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute of Bologna have collaborated with the Eritrean Ministry of Health, the Halibet Hospital in Asmara and in the last two years also with UNICEF Eritrea, to provide for the care of children with malformations at the lower limbs in a country where this type of support had not yet been developed. Furthermore, upon the Eritrean Health Ministry request, Rizzoli’s volunteers developed a project about the treatment of hip dysplasia on pediatric patients. This project is the natural evolution of the Let’s walk together project and it is added to other AnlaDi projects implemented for the Orotta pediatric hospital. The cooperation has provided Eritrean medical personnel with the assistance of Italian orthopedists, anesthesiologists, nurses, and technicians, initiate pediatric orthopedic surgery at the Halibet Hospital in Asmara. Over the course of six years, we have organized several expeditions, and over 800 children have been visited. In addition to congenital clubfoot, we have observed a multitude of diseases severely debilitating childhood, including congenital hip dysplasia, cerebral palsy, axial deformities of the lower limbs and trauma outcomes. Among these, 400 children that underwent surgery were selected, and a research study was carried out on 45 cases of inveterate congenital clubfoot through a collaboration between the Eritrean and the Italian professionals. Beyond that, we completed the construction of two new operating theatres thanks to private funding granted by a family from Milan and thanks to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation through UNICEF Eritrea
The project
Our project aims at preserving what we built through significant economic effort. A well maintained item is an item that can easily perform its functions. Whether it is a property, an electrical system or (no an) equipment, through maintenance (no virgola) it can continue to meet the users’ needs, guaranteeing quality and safety. Furthermore, maintenance can improve the goods’ performance, it can reduce management or operating costs, it can limit energy consumption and, in general, the maintenance costs themselves, if it is performed by qualified personnel in due time. The healthcare sector, and particularly hospitals, require special attention concerning maintenance. In order to treat patients safely and ensure the achievement of the expected performance in a safe environment, it is essential to guarantee reliability, availability and continuity of operation of the buildings, systems and equipment. Maintenance and healthcare therefore represent an inseparable, delicate, complex and strategic combination. For this reason, our project aims at providing assistance both in financial terms and in terms of skills in order to improve the quality and functioning of the buildings, systems and equipment at Halibet hospital.
Achieved result
During the period 2022-2023, despite several unexpected events such as COVID, we managed to supervise the maintenance of the operating rooms. Furthermore we drew up a programme of interventions aimed at maintaining and improving the conditions of operating rooms.
A technician monitored the state of maintenance of the medical equipment in the operating room . He gave us some recommendations about interventions to do to machineries and some necessary replacements. Moreover, he trained local staff to do minor routine maintenance interventions on medical equipment.
We construct a covered pathway connecting the operating rooms with the recovery room to allow an easy passage between the operating rooms block and the post-operative room.
Finally, we followed up an urgent request by the local department to extend the oxygen distribution system from the operating rooms block to a few recovery rooms. Our intention in the future is to complete the distribution of oxygen throughout the recovery ward.
