Through these short conversations, we try to understand what our customers think about us. Today we are traveling to the island of Madagascar, to talk to Dr. Rasoanoavy Kalanirina, Head Doctor of the basic health centre (CSB) of Antanimena Tananarivo City in the district of Toliara II.

The level II basic healthcare centres are health establishments of first contact with patients and are managed by a doctor. These centres administer basic care such as immunization treatments, consultations, and can also provide essential obstetric care.

1. Could you please talk about the activities of the Basic Healthcare Centre?

We are a level II healthcare centre located in Antanimena. We provide basic health care to the population of the commune. We carry out vaccination sessions every day except Saturday and Sunday. We vaccinate an average of 25 people per day for routine vaccinations. Friday is a special day when we vaccinate against measles (VAR) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). We vaccinate between 80 and 100 people a day during this campaign. We also vaccinate against COVID-19, with an average of 30 people a day.
In addition to immunization, we provide prenatal and outpatient consultations, and family planning. We also carry out screening for HIV and provide consultations and advice regarding child malnutrition.

2. Why is there a need of cold storage in your organization?

We use medical refrigerators to store the vaccines we use in our vaccination campaigns. We store vaccines against COVID-19, hepatitis B, measles, and rotavirus, on top of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV), TT vaccines for pregnant women (Tetanus, Diphtheria), OPV (polio), PCP (pneumocystis pneumonia), etc.

3. Which model(s) did you purchase from B Medical Systems?

We received the TCW 40 SDD solar refrigerator through the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI). We also use the TCW 3000 AC model for the storage of COVID-19 vaccines.

4. What are the features of the products that you liked the most? Can you please talk about the performances of the devices?

Since we have been using this product, we have never had any problems. The device works very well. The refrigerator is equipped with a remote temperature monitoring device (RTMD) and we have also added a data logger (logtag) to it. We regularly check that the temperature inside is appropriate for the storage of the vaccines so that they keep their potency. So far, we have not recorded any temperature excursions and we have not had any alarms.

5. How do you use B Medical Systems’ products and what benefits do you get from them?

We use the device to store the vaccines we receive every month. In the morning we open the refrigerator to take the vaccines we need for the daily vaccination campaigns, and in the evening, we put back the doses that we did not use during the day. The device works perfectly even when there is not much sunlight, and daylight is enough. We used to have a competitor’s device and it was a real pain to work with. It had a lot of breakdowns. With B Medical Systems we have no electrical problems or breakdowns anymore.

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