Lumos
2020
Kameroen
The hospital in Douala depends for their electricity supply on the national grid powered by Eneo. However, the power supply is not very reliable, at the longest they go three days with a continuous supply. Interruptions in power can span over several days. There is an emergency generator to compensate for these power outages, but the generator can only run for a few hours at a time before it overheats.
The objective of this project is to supply the hospital with reliable power of their most essential equipment, two analyzers and a microscope, and for lights in the rooms. The goal is to be able to deliver power during a blackout for up to at least 24 hours. Besides that, the power quality will be improved to extend the lifespan of the medical appliances and to avoid damage and the safety of the circuit will be evaluated and improved if necessary.
This project is in cooperation with LUMOS, an organization from UZ Leuven that strives for the sustainable development of health care in African countries like Congo-Kinshasa, Rwanda, Cameroon or Benin. They try to achieve this through organizing training for local doctors and health professionals and the transfer of knowledge and medical equipment. Their main goal with this project is to ensure that the necessary medical equipment can always be used to provide a constant and reliable healthcare and that the electric equipment doesn’t get damaged by the fluctuating electricity supply.