Thanks to Libby Mills, the Coordinator for BMET Ethiopia, for her contributions to this post.

In June, BMET students in Ethiopia finished another semester of Training the Trainers. The students now have much better access to tools and medical equipment, which has improved their ability to practice hands-on skills. The more they learn, the more their interest and dedication grow!

One of the students, Meba Hailu, is already using her new training to teach her students. This is a perfect example of our BMET Training mission! She writes, “The material you provided has also been helpful. I hope the training does continue… they are changing our lives!”

Another student, Mamaru Firew, is using his skills to provide preventative maintenance and department organization in his hospital. He writes, “I am doing preventative maintenance weekly [and] corrective maintenance for malfunctioning equipment by following troubleshooting procedures as I learned in class. …This training program is very helpful for biomedical professionals.”

Meba, Bethel, and Mitiku working during lab

Menelik Hospital has partnered with the program to provide a mentoring area, which is proving to be very effective and good for both the students and the hospital. Students are getting lots of practice troubleshooting, maintaining, and repairing equipment, while the hospital has received a complete inventory, as well as having many repairs completed and preventative maintenance done. Students also found several pieces of equipment that had been put in storage due to failure, and were able to repair and return them to service, including a defibrillator for the Emergency department and a patient monitor for the ICU.

The program is also working with people interested in establishing a supply store in Addis Ababa for the hospitals, which would make it much easier to find replacement parts for medical equipment. All of the people involved understand the importance of this endeavor and are working through Ethiopia’s regulations for establishing a business related to the medical industry.