Equipment

Although both the outpatient clinic as well as the theatre is reasonably well equipped, there is hardly any equipment repair support. If a screw becomes loose, a wire breaks, or a fuse burns out, there is not always someone available with expertise to repair the device. Many pieces of donated equipment have been set aside to rust and catch dust. Basically there are many donated instruments, but few complete sets of anything. The variation is limited and the quality is really bad. Many tools from both theatre and outpatient clinic are poorly stored after use. Equipment left in the clinic is in danger of being stolen. Because of this likely many tools are damaged and/or lost. Proper handling, security, and discipline with equipment maintenance would be very desirable. Training of theatre nurses and other personnel in this field is crucial.

In the old Eye theatre, there is a cabinet full of otolaryngology stuff (including rigid endoscopes, headlight, grommets, etc.). This cabinet is always locked and is managed by Suzy. Suzy is a very dedicated theatre nurse. Without her processes in theatre would not run as they do now. However, regarding the instruments in the cabinet she may be a bit to dedicated keeping things so safe that are not even used. Many very useful things have been lying around in this cabinet but are never used! There was also an unused endoscopy tower (monitor, camera, light source), which we needed only 10 minutes to get it to work again. This tower gave a much better picture than the tower that was in use in theatre. We have exchanged the towers but whether they will swap them back when we are gone remains the question. There is bipolar diathermy available, but there is only one device. Recently two ear surgery sets (including micro instruments) and a brand new bien air drill as well as one nose surgery (e.g. for septoplasty and nose and facial reconstructions) have been donated by AfriKNO.  The old Stryker drill is therefore no longer the only available drill. There still is al lack of good, sharp drill bits. For details on available and missing instruments, disposables and machines please see the INSTRUMENTS AND MACHINES section. Continuous monitoring of the lists mentioned there is crucial to provide the department with missing instruments or devices which is an essential part of the improvement of the local ENT care.