FOR people living in remote areas of the developing world, the nearest hospital can be hundreds of miles away, making access to even the most basic of surgery impossible. But if the people can鈥檛 come to the hospital, why not take the operating theatre to them?
That鈥檚 the thinking behind a solar-powered 鈥渉ospital in a box鈥�, which can fit in the back of a Land Rover and has been designed to allow a team of three surgeons to carry out life-saving operations almost anywhere in the world.
The system, developed by a team of doctors and technicians from the UK鈥檚 National Health Service, comprises two small boxes that unfold to provide an operating table, equipment holder, lighting, anaesthesia and monitors, plus a plastic tent to provide a clean environment for surgery.
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To be squeezed into just two boxes, the kit contains only the basic instruments needed to carry out general surgery. Even so, this would be enough to operate on common conditions like cataracts and a burst appendix, and it could also be used to treat victims of serious burns, says Alexander Bushell, a surgical technician at the Medway Hospital in Kent who helped design the system.
鈥淲e鈥檙e confident that with this system and a minimum of three properly trained staff, it is possible to offer general surgery to the standard you would expect in any European hospital,鈥� says Bushell. 鈥淎ll you need to run it is a truck battery, and that can be charged up by the solar panel. And in many parts of Africa, for example, sun is one thing that is not in short supply.鈥� He claims the solar panel would capture enough electricity in one day to provide power for five days鈥� worth of surgery.
Bushell hopes medical staff in Nigeria will test the system later this year in remote areas of the country where local people have no access to surgical treatment.
The basic kit, excluding the truck battery, will cost just 拢14,000. Additional modules, providing a more extensive selection of drugs or extra equipment are also available to allow more specialised orthopaedic surgery. The system was unveiled at the British Invention Show in London last week, where it won World Invention of the Year.
鈥淎ll you need to run it is a truck battery and a solar panel that鈥檚 part of the kit鈥�
Bushell鈥檚 colleague Babaseyi Oyesola, a consultant anaesthetist at the Medway Hospital, says he is confident that the system will be approved by European licensing agencies. 鈥淭here is no problem I can see because all the individual devices in the pack already have the certificate.鈥�
Edwin Borman, the chairman of the British Medical Association鈥檚 International Committee, says it is a great idea. 鈥淚t could prove fantastically useful, not just in the developing world but in disaster zones or in military situations.鈥�
