Nigeria: General Electric Grants U.S.$1.5 Million to Technicians

Abuja — The General Electric (GE) Foundation, in collaboration with the Developing World Healthcare Technology Laboratory at Duke University and Engineering World Health, have initiated a $1.5 million grant for Biomedical Equipment Technician Training (BMET) programme to address persistent need for repairing medical equipment and building sustainable pipeline of qualified medical engineers.

The new BMET project in Nigeria is to address a major need for locally qualified medical technicians to repair and service biomedical equipment. The capacity-building programme, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria, will be conducted at the Federal School of Biomedical Engineering Technology at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and will build on the success of BMET programmes already implemented in Rwanda, Ghana, Cambodia and Honduras. The $1.5 million grant is to be administered over a three-year period. It was learnt at the on-going World Economic Forum (WEF) that between 50- 80 per cent of medical equipment is out of service in low-income countries according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In Nigeria, 50 per cent of hospital equipment is out of service which puts added strain on local healthcare delivery. "The shortage of functional medical equipment is a barrier to the efficient delivery of care in Sub-Saharan Africa," said David Barash, Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer of the GE Foundation.

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