Eye Machines Might Rot

I'm assuming something has been lost in translation with this article on GhanaWeb.com. It reports that after a "colossal sum of money" was spent buying new machines for the Eye Centre at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), the hospital now finds it can't install the machines because there are some people living next to the Eye Centre who "produce excessive heat." And this heat will somehow damage the machines.

The hospital wants all these heat-producing people cleared away. And it warns that if it doesn't get its way, it won't be able to use the new machines at all. And non-usage will also damage the delicate machines! Or, as the headline puts it, "KATH eye centre machines rot." Sounds like if these hot people could cool down a bit, they could stay and everyone would be happy.

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Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 23, 2013
Category: Africa

Comments

I think that before I spent a colossal sum of money on a machine I'd find out if it was heat sensitive seeing how you can spit across the equator from the hospital roof.

Psst... tell some Westerner, bible-thumping, do-gooders you need some of that A/C stuff. They'll know what you're talking about.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 08/23/13 at 11:01 AM

I interpret the meaning of "heat" as cooking fires. A good number of people in the area using open fires for cooking would produce a lot of particulates which could affect precision machinery such as a retina scanner.

Just my interpretation, but the reason I think this way is that at one time I worked with Boston Scientific in Minneapolis, MN in their stent manufacturing division. It was a new building with a clean room environment but not a sterile one. At one point sulfur contamination was detected in the process and, after a lot of head scratching, was traced to the diesel exhaust taken in from the loading dock by the building ventilation system. Trucks would idle during the winter while being loaded.

Posted by KDP on 08/23/13 at 04:00 PM

So the hospital administration can not do anything to remove these people from inside the place?

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 08/23/13 at 06:51 PM

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