An indigenous medical equipment company, Life Care Technology, has been awarded a $5.5 million contract to construct a pipe oxygen equipment at some hospitals in West Africa.
Awarded under the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) Africa Infrastructure Relief and Support (AIRS) project, the contract is to effect sustainable change to the health disparity of inadequate oxygen in hospitals.
Life Care Technology will ensure the development of hospital-based infrastructure for sustainable oxygen production to patients in Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Nigeria.
The company will provide specific medical oxygen-related needs, including hospital-based infrastructure, oxygen-generating plants and solar energy.
The two-year project is expected to be expanded to other West African countries in the course of time.
An Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University, Professor John Sampson, who led a team of medical professionals from the United States of America to sign the contract, disclosed this at short signing ceremony in Accra last Saturday.
Prof. Sampson said oxygen was the most essential medication for which there was no substitute.
He said the project would work to bring help through economic investment into indigenous businesses in Ghana to help neighbouring countries to install oxygen systems through renewable energy to eradicate oxygen problems in the sub-region to save lives.
“In addition to the oxygen projects, we will be offering training opportunities for critical care medicine to physician and nurses in any West African countries as time goes on,” he added.
The Managing Director of Life Care Technology, Bishoy Fouad, expressed appreciation to the organisations, stating that it was an achievement for the company and local organisations in the country as a whole.
He said with the country’s current advancement in medical gas systems, it would help to build the economy while building the portfolio of local workers who would construct and service equipment as per the demands of the contract.
Mr Fouad said his company was looking at a three to six-month duration to complete the work, taking into consideration the training of medical officers to use the equipment.
“So with support from your organisation and our experience, I assure that we would do a commendable job on this project,” he added.
The Chief Executive of the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly, Solomon Kotey Nikoi, stated that the initiative was as timely as it was important for future cooperation in the area of health.
“We look forward to a good collaboration, especially in the areas of health delivery, provision of health infrastructure and medical equipment or logistics, which are inadequate to meet the needs of our people in the municipality and beyond,” he said.
SOURCE:Graphiconline
