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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Delta State Government has signed agreement with a private firm, Koolboks, for the supply and maintenance of solar refrigerators to primary healthcare centres across the state.
The agreement entails the deployment of the refrigerators to healthcare facilities especially in rural communities to boost immunisation capacity, ensure safety of vaccines and provide electricity.
Director General of Delta State Contributory Healthcare Scheme, Dr. Ben Nkechika described it as another Public Private Partnership (PPP) model geared towards effective healthcare delivery in the state.
Nkechika said Koolboks, apart from being the supplier, would also be responsible for it’s maintenance.
He said lack of electricity had always led to compromise of the effectiveness of vaccines in rural health facilities, adding that with the partnership with Koolboks, such would now be a thing of the past.
“There is a remote temperature monitoring where at any time you are sure that the freezer is working. If for any reason the freezer has a problem, it automatically sends a message, so before the temperature range gets out of hand, there is an immediate intervention to safeguard the vaccines.
“Along with the cooling service, the freezer is able to generate power into the facility. The ice they form is converted to power, and it is able to power certain sections of the facility. So it is a freezer that stores vaccines and also generate electricity, so it is killing two birds with one stone.
“This will ensure that our vaccines are safe; enhance our immunisation capacity; and provide electricity. We have distributed these freezers to all primary healthcare centres and we made sure certain critical components – the labour ward, the consulting room, the delivery room are all powered by solar,” he said.
Customer Relationship Service (CRS) manager of Koolboks, Lolade Esther Alonge said a pilot scheme was conducted in the state which proved the effectiveness of the solar refrigerators.
Alonge said the company was deploying 15 units of the freezers, in the first place, adding that Koolboks was delighted to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) mandate to provide access to healthcare and electricity.
