In eye care, functional equipment and instruments are as important as the human resources that use them. However according to WHO, at any given point about 60% of medical equipment is not being used, either because they are broken or under repair. This keeps the whole system down for days, even though it is also observed that most often the problems affecting the equipment and instruments are only minor and could be easily managed by locally trained technicians.

As Cameroon is no exception to these statistics, Aravind, the Ministry of Health of Cameroon, the German cooperation GTZ and Right to Sight partnered to organise a training course on the maintenance and repair of ophthalmic equipment in Cameroon.

For two weeks, from 16th-28th March 2009, 15 Cameroonian Hospital technicians took part in the training course held at Mbingo Baptist Hospital, in the North West province of Cameroon. The course was delivered by two trainers from LAICO/Aravind Eye Care System in India, Prof Srinivasan and Mr Poornachandran, and two technicians from Cameroon, Norbert Kamaleu and Kima Atem, who had previously attended the LAICO course in Pondicherry, India.


The course is based on the ‘learning by doing approach’, with some lectures dispensed but the majority of time given over to maintenance and repair demonstrations. By having a very hands-on experience, the trainees learn how to dismantle the equipment, clean it, identify problems and find local solutions to repair broken items. The aim was to train the technicians to have all instruments in good working order at all times through preventive maintenance; and if an instrument is not working, then to make sure that it is fixed with the minimum of down-time as “an instrument repaired is an instrument gained” Prof Srinivasan.


Towards the end of the course, two instruments maintenance camps were organised. One group went to the Eye Department of the Presbyterian Health Centre in Bamenda and serviced the equipment there. Mundih Reta, the head of the eye unit was very pleased with the technicians work and commented “Excellent work and we wish you would come again”. The second group serviced the equipment at the Mbingo Hospital. The course concluded with a graduation ceremony, where the Regional Delegate for Health of the North West Province of Cameroon distributed the certificates and the head of the maintenance department of GTZ, Josef Riha, presented tool kits to the participating technicians.


The course was hailed as a great success by all. The head trainer, Prof Srinivasan, said at the end “From my experience in running courses overseas I would say that this course is probably the best course I have run so far. One may say as we run more and more courses we get experienced but I would say the success of this course is mainly due to all the preliminary work and the great care that Right To Sight, GTZ and others have put into the selection of the trainees. One indicator for a successful course is the enthusiasm of participants. Our sessions are scheduled to close at 5 pm and you would find that even at 5.30 pm trainees remain in the working area wanting to do something or other or asking questions and sharing their experiences.”


All the technicians admitted to being very satisfied with the course and found the theoretical and practical content of the course excellent and very relevant to their needs. They also felt that they will be able to apply what they have learnt in their own hospitals when they return. As the need for trained technicians has been expressed in many countries, Right to Sight and its partners are planning to organise similar courses in other African countries.

Right to Sight and Aravind have also undertaken to translate the teaching material (2 DVDs and teaching slides) into French, so that the course could also be held in francophone countries.


Please follow the link below to see the Aravind Newsletter where the story was reported on also.

http://www.aravind.org/publications/newsletter/aravindnews/aravindnews.aspx?newsissuecode=NI00000002


Contact: Isabelle Hoyaux, Right to Sight Project Executive, Isabelle.hoyaux@righttosight.com