Through these short conversations, we try to understand what our customers think about us. Today we are visiting a rural area in India to meet Jyoti Kumari, an auxiliary midwife-nurse working at the Additional Primary Health Center (APHC) in Bakharpur, in the state of Bihar, East India. An APHC is a small health center which works under the PHC (Public Health Center) of an area. As in India some locations can be very crowded, in order to provide good medical services to all people additional health center are created and controlled by the main PHC. The PHC can have up to 5 APHCs reporting to it.
- Could you explain what your activity consists of?
My name is Jyoti Kumari and I am a nurse in Bhakarpur. I manage and run the outpatient department (OPD). My primary role is to attend to outdoor patients who are visiting the Centre for their checkups and other medical queries/concerns. The Centre also provides 24/7 service for baby deliveries. I also accompany the doctors during their visits to centers. There is a total population of about 24,000 people in the vicinity and being a rural area, everyone visits us for any medical support such as regular immunizations, delivery of newborn babies, and COVID vaccination for primary & secondary doses as well as the booster doses for those who are eligible for it. We have different types of COVID vaccines at our center: the Covishield, Covaxin and Corbevax. We also store medication such as Oxytocin to support child deliveries along with other general medicines required at the centers. Every Wednesday & Friday, a regular immunization campaign is organized.
- Why is there a need for cold storage in your center?
We need cold storage because the center stores immunization vaccines & COVID-19 vaccines as well as other general medication that require to be kept cold.
- Which products did you buy from B Medical Systems? For which purpose?
We have received a TCW2043SDD from the government. It’s our first unit from the B Medical Systems brand. The device is dedicated to the storage of vaccines against COVID-19, general immunization campaigns and medications used for baby deliveries.
- What are the features that you liked the most about the product? Could you please talk about the performance of the device?
Before receiving this model, the center had no similar solar equipment to support the people’s health care. We had some electric domestic refrigerators which were useless as the electricity is very bad in our remote area. The power is off most of the time. We used bicycle and motorbike to transport the vaccines in transportation boxes with icepack from the PHC to the APHC every day, around 30 vaccines per day.
We received the new unit in April, and we have not faced any issues until now. Thanks to solar-powered equipment, we can perform all the primary tasks in a timely manner even when there is no electricity.
- How are you using the B Medical Systems product and how does it benefit your institution?
It’s a huge benefit for us to have this unit installed at this centre as its 30 kms away from the main PHC and hence we had to get all vaccines delivered from there to our centre every day. Now, we can keep vaccines at our location which was not possible earlier due to fewer storage options. The ILR has been very supportive, and vaccines are safe and able to maintain the potency. Now, we bring the vaccines once a week and keep them inside the TCW2043SDD to distribute them during the vaccination campaigns.
- Have you found in B Medical Systems a trustworthy partner?
Yes, very much, we are super happy with the device. We have not faced any issues to date.
- How did you learn about B Medical Systems?
We only came to know the company when the unit came to us through a government tender. It is our first experience, and we are building good trust with the manufacturer.
- How long have you been a B Medical Systems customer?
We received the unit in April 2022.
- Are you satisfied with the equipment?
Very much satisfied, yes, we will even recommend it to other centres.
- Would you recommend B Medical Systems?
Surely.
