Seventeen students from the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC) have graduated after 3 years of intensive training program for hands-on medical equipment repair and maintenance.
Graduates received certificates from IPRC Kigali as Biomedical Equipment Technicians (BMETs); however this number is seen as low compared to over 47 hospitals in need of such technicians across the country.
The Acting Head of Medical Maintenance Centre (MMC) in Rwanda Bio-Medical Centre, Theogene Namahungu revealed that graduates will have a measured positive impact on the ability of Rwandan hospital BMETs to service and repair critical medical equipment.
Namahungu during a Health Technology Management workshop last month in the Eastern province, noted that insufficiency of Bio-Medical Engineers hinders progress in health sector.
“Many hospitals have medical equipments that are not in good condition and there is no closer collaboration between hospital technicians and the heads of hospitals in ensuring proper functionality of medical equipments”, notes Namahungu.
However, partners in the sector have pledged support to train more technicians in ensuring well trained Biomedical Equipment Technicians to support the public health system in.
The concluded training at IPRC in Kigali was done in collaboration with GE Foundation, Duke University, and Engineering World Health (EWH).
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