Cold . . . Solutions . . .

Over the last 2 weeks, it has been really cold. So cold that we had problems with patient care. . . We lost a preterm baby in the ward . . . 

Of course, we have heaters and warmers. But, the problem has been with electricity too. Most of the time, we have problems with electricity and even when we have electricity, the voltage is too low that the warmers do not work. . .

To give you an idea . . . the following two snaps would help. The first one is taken with a flash and the second one is taken without the flash. The dim light you see is the filament of the 60 Watt bulb burning.

And the next picture shows you the same bulb when the voltage is a bit more better. Well, the above sort of a picture is not so uncommon in most parts of rural India. For our state, it is a shame - as we are a treasure trove of coal and power plants . . .

There has been quite a lot of work on electricity connections which have been aimed at saving energy. We've achieved quite a lot - but the severe cold and the need for heating equipment has put us in a tight spot. . .

We look forward for ideas on how we could use non-conventional energy to warm up our wards and other facilities. . . Of course, one of the major needs are solar water heaters for providing warm water to patients, students and if possible to staff . . .



For those who are not very familiar with our place, there are very few days when we do not have good sunlight during the daytime . . . . which should actually help us to look at solutions which could trap the daytime heat and use it later in the night . . .



Or is it too wishfull thinking ? ? ? 




You may have some query on how the baby died. The baby was born at 29 weeks with a birth weight of 1.4 kgs. He had done well for about a week. He was kept in the warmer. The parents and the staff had been taught to move the baby into 'kangaroo care' if there was a blackout. 




Unfortunately, there was no blackout. The voltage had gone quite down. Nobody noticed it - as many of the bulbs had been recently changed to Compact Flourescent Lamps - they continued to burn well even in the low voltage whereas the warmer did not have enough current to generate enough temperature . . .




I've got hold of a stabiliser for the warmer for the time being thanks to a kind donation from one of our friends. . .  But for the baby, the decision had come too late . . . 




However, we look for more stable solutions . . .