The administration of Shaheed Gangalal National Cardiovascular Center shut down the 'autoclave machine' 5 years ago as it could not be repaired. After the machine, which is used to disinfect surgical instruments, broke down, the hospital administration was planning to buy a new one, which would cost more than 1 crore.

But after social activist Mahavir Pun's National Innovation Center repaired that machine, it has started running. 

Health Minister Pradeep Paudel and Pune, the chairman of Avarish Kendra, reached an agreement last August on matters including maintenance and management of equipment of 17 federal hospitals. In Gangalal, the team of the innovation center had already started work in May. At present, 20 engineers are working in different hospitals under the leadership of Umesh Kiranti, a biomedical engineer at the Innovation Center. 

According to the center, 340 of the 400 equipments that have been stored in the government hospital for more than 5 years have been repaired. In order to repair the remaining 60 machines, the parts have been requested from the company selling the machines, said the biomedical engineer of Avaskar Center. "We have also trained nurses to operate the equipment," he said.

A team of Abhinav Dutt, Sameer Aryal, Kripa Budha Magar, Devanand Shah is working at Gangalal Hospital under the leadership of Engineer Officer and Vinita Mandal. They have repaired the contrast injector used during heart surgery, defibrillator machine used to restore normal heart rhythm, blood plasma separation lab equipment, syringe pump, infusion pump at Gangalal Hospital. Similarly, temperature controller, patient monitor, ECG machine, ICU/CCU equipment have also been repaired. 

Since Gangalal Hospital does not have a biomedical engineer branch, the cooperation with the Innovation Center for equipment maintenance is useful, said Sudipchandra Dahal, information officer of the hospital. He said, "When the damaged equipment was put back into operation, the patient did not have to be referred," he said. In the first step, according to the department of the hospital, it is determined how much equipment can be used and in what condition, in the second step, it is identified whether it can be repaired or not. The team of the Innovation Center has completed the first phase of work at Veer Hospital. 

About 300 equipment needs to be repaired in Veer, mainly ventilators, X-rays, CT scans, mammography (early detection of cancer), hemodialysis machines, syringes/infusion pumps, etc. In Kanti Children's Hospital, biomedical engineer Vinita Mandal said that the software has been prepared to keep the data related to the equipment. "Now we will soon prepare a list of the equipment that has been used/not used in Kanti Children's Hospital," she said.

In the next phase, the Innovation Center has planned to repair the damaged equipment by making an agreement with Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, Bhaktapur's Shahid Dharmabhakta National Human Organ Transplantation Center, Patan Hospital, Narayani Hospital. When the machines in the government hospitals are running out, especially the patients suffering from chronic and fatal diseases have to suffer for treatment. Without getting ICU, ventilators, patients are forced to go to private hospitals by paying expensive fees.

According to the data of the Department of Health Services, more than 300 equipment including ventilators, hemodialysis, X-ray, biochemistry analyzers, portable USG, endoscopy, etc., provided by the government budget and donor agencies throughout the country, are unused during the Covid epidemic. Most of them are stuck due to lack of maintenance. Dr. Head of the supply branch of the