Question

CEF 04 – 2021 Maintenance of equipment at Georgetown Hospital

What is the testing frequency for equipment at the Georgetown Hospital?

How is the Oxygen Machine tested considering this is from the United States?

AIG response:

For the X-ray unit and anaesthetic equipment checks are carried out every other year – currently the anaesthetic machines are a challenge due to travel restrictions etc. The X-ray unit is checked by the X-Ray trainer when visiting and is due a visit this year.

For the others equipment there is no real in-house medical electricians available and the SMO work with contacts (suppliers) to fault find and source repair. The electronic items doesn’t need servicing as such, but SMO started working with St Helena Government to share the services of a medical technician from South Africa who was able to come out on the Airlink for an overnight visit. These discussions will continue and hopefully be the way forward once normality return and flights from South Africa is resumed.

The OGS system oxygen output (purity) is tested using an oxygen analyser device to measure the percentage oxygen delivered by the unit. The unit itself has built in safety features to monitor air filtration, moisture and the running time of the unit. It will require a minor service at a set time but this should be possible in-house as it only involves a change of filter.

Councillor Ellick

Submitted: 23 March 2021

Response: 9 April 2021