Before starting inventory we got to tour the two hospitals we’ll be working at, Zewditu and Ras Desta. The conditions are about what I had expected from pictures and stories, but seeing it in person is a whole different experience. The sheer volume of people was shocking; all the waiting benches were filled and people were sitting on the floor. The staff works long hours, but with limited equipment and frequent power outages it’s difficult for them to keep up with all the patients that come through. And these aren’t even the biggest hospitals in the city!

The biomedical technicians showed us the departments that contained most of the medical equipment. People working in each ward would stop and help, but most didn’t really understand what we were doing. They thought that we were coming around to fix equipment, and were quickly disappointed when they found out we were only taking inventory. We explained that the eventual goal is to have a sustainable system that will train technicians locally, but it was clear they had heard a lot of plans “for the future” that never followed through. It was both discouraging and inspiring at the same time. So many promises have remained unfulfilled, how much of the effort that the world thinks it is putting into these communities eventually comes to nothing? However, you can see that the people obviously haven’t given up, and are still looking for ways to learn and improve. I think that our project has real potential to help, and after experiencing their skepticism I’m more motivated to see it through!

The biggest problem with equipment seems to be spare parts. The technicians seem pretty capable when it comes to basic problems, but when a filter is clogged or a lens is cracked there’s only so much they can do. The system for obtaining spare parts from the biotech companies is confusing, intricate, and rarely successful. In addition, there definitely seems to be a need for more technicians; each hospital had less than five people to fix and maintain equipment for the whole building!

Our project will help with the lack of technicians, but the spare parts issue is still food for thought…maybe designing more robust equipment (something that Rice students do in the Global Health program)? Ideally there will eventually be Ethiopian companies that will supply spare parts, or maybe even whole devices.

In between tours we had lunch at an “American” restaurant, where I had spaghetti that tasted strangely (but not badly) Ethiopian. We had almost an entire chicken left over that I proceeded to carry around the next hospital in my backpack! Definitely wouldn’t have flown at an American hospital (flown…haha…please forgive terrible puns).
Next, onto the actual inventory!