Mvumi Hospital Central Sterile Supplies and Intravenous Fluids Department
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The Central Sterile Supplies and Intravenous Fluids unit was set up at Mvumi Hospital through funds from the Friends of Mvumi. Looking at these pictures it is hard to believe that the unit is 40km from the nearest tarmac road! The suite is equipped with modern sterilisers, autoclaves, water purifiers and filtration devices to produce high quality sterile fluids including salines for intravenous drips and eye drops. The autoclaves are also used to produce sterile packs for use in the operating theatres. |
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The unit comprises several linked rooms with increasing orders of cleanliness. Clothing is changed before entering the suite and sterile procedures are used throughout. In the outer rooms bottles are washed and packs prepared before passing them through to the sterilising room where they are heated in autoclaves to kill the germs.
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The inner clean rooms are reserved for the production of IV fluids and sterile eye drops. In here, rain water is passed through a water purification system and then used to dissolve a mixture of salts which match the solutions to the bodies fluids. |
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The solutions are then filtered and bottled before autoclaving to sterilise them. Rain water is used in preference to water from bore holes which is too hard and contains too many salts. Each year during the rains the run off from the hospital roofs is stored in underground tanks and reserved for the production of sterile supplies. |
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This unit is just one of the many ways in which money donated to the Mvumi Hospital is spent. Previously, sterile fluids had to be purchased, which meant sending a lorry all the way to Dar es Salaam. Now the hospital can make their own saline drips and eye drops thus saving a lot of money which can be spent on other urgent requirements. More importantly, the hospital can now make the fluids as and when they are needed and doesn't have to rely on their availability and transport from Dar. This is particularly important during outbreaks of cholera when huge volumes of salines may be needed. The production of these fluids is undoubtedly a life saver. |
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Money for the building of the Central Sterile Supplies Department was donated in the memory of Lydia McKelvey. The Intravenous Drip Unit was funded by SIMAVI and the Eye Drop Unit by Christoffel-Blindenmission. The Inner Wheel, Dronfield, U.K. contributed generously to building costs and sterilisers. | ||
