Islamabad, 17th October, 2014: The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has embarked on developing the capacity of technical personnel in preparation for the provision of 87 Solar ILRs to provincial/area EPIs FATA, Balochistan and KP planned in early 2015.
This initiative aims to train 110 technical personnel on Repair and Maintenance of Cold Chain Equipment at the targeted province/areas including, CDA/ICT. A training session was conducted between 13 and 17 October 2014 for the first batch of 27 technical personnel out of total 110 who will be trained in a series of scheduled courses in the coming three weeks.
"The Solar Ice Lined Refrigerators (ILRs) will be great value to Pakistan's EPI, particularly for remote facilities without access to reliable electricity or fuel supplies", said Dr. Rana Muhammad Safdar, the Federal EPI Manager during the training at National Training / Centre in Islamabad.
Dr. Rana further stated that EPI has been keen on careful management of the vaccines since it is highly sensitive biological products which may become less effective, or even destroyed, when exposed to temperatures outside the recommended range.
The training courses do not only focus on the future Solar ILRS, rather it prioritizes enhancing the capacity of the management teams of the existing Electric ILRs. Training course comprises one day content allocation on Solar ILRs, whereas during the remaining 4 days hands on practical training has been designed to cover the contents on Electric ILRs.
The EPI Manager emphasized that continued training of the EPI human resource on repair and maintenance of cold chain equipment is highly imperative in Pakistani context, adding the report on preliminary analysis of data collected from 56 districts of Pakistan utilizing Cold Chain Equipment Manager (CCEM 2 Pakistan Version) provided clear evidence that the area of cold chain repair and maintenance required immediate attention.
The first batch of trainees received hands on training on various elements of a Cold Chain System viz-a-viz both Electric and Solar ILRs. In the Electric ILR session the contents included (Thermometer Readings and Control, Freezers Watch Indicators, Vaccine Temperature Watch and the Cold Chain Management Card. In addition to the training briefings, practical participatory sessions were held on (Safety Precautions, Understanding the Terminals, Load Management, Current Relay Checking, Voltage Management, Hot Water Relay Management, Maintenance of Leakages, Filter Drier Changing Method, Understanding the Wiring Mechanism, Managing Frosting. On the other hand, concerning the Solar ILR, sessions included (Introduction to Solar Energy Significance, Feasibility in Pakistan, Importance of Alternative Energy, Understanding the Deep Freezer Solar Panel, Connecting Deep Freezers with Solar Panels. All of these components were demonstrated with the help of Diagrams.
Pakistan's EPI has been adequately supported by its technical and funding partners; especially the Cold Chain and Vaccine Management teams comprising of members from EPI and UNICEF Pakistan. Their
Meanwhile Mr. Per Engebak, UNICEF Polio Team Lead in Pakistan expressed happiness that technicians from Waziristan Agency have taken part in this session. He assured of global solidarity for EPI Pakistan and anticipated that the tool boxes and all the knowledge that the participants are taking along them will serve productiveness in their EPIs.