Strengthening Collaboration in the Caribbean

This August, we held our fourth Biomedical Engineering Knowledge Exchange between the Institut Brenda Strafford in Haiti and the Dominica China Friendship Hospital in Dominica. The meeting marked the one year anniversary of this collaboration to improve biomedical equipment maintenance and repair services, critical to ensuring quality healthcare services.

The meeting focused on maintenance of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) machines, which is a critical piece of equipment in modern eye care.

"With OCT, your ophthalmologist can see each of the retina’s distinctive layers and the optic nerve fiber layer. This allows your ophthalmologist to map and measure their thickness and changes over time. These measurements help with diagnosis. They also guide treatment for glaucoma as well as retinal disease, like age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic eye disease." (Source: American Academy of Ophthalmology) 

The presentation was led by Institut Brenda Strafford's Biomedical Engineer, Yunier Morales Aguero, who has extensive experience with these devices. Participants also discussed the role of biomedical engineers in preparing the operating theatre for surgery. It was a true knowledge exchange with ideas shared and learnings for everyone involved.