Eight biomedical engineering students from the University of Canterbury are heading to Tonga to train staff to maintain essential medical equipment. Photo: University of Canterbury
A group of eight biomedical engineering students from the University of Canterbury are heading to Tonga this month to train staff to maintain essential medical equipment.
Debbie Munro, an engineer and senior lecturer at the University, led a previous student trip to Tonga in 2019.
When Munro first visited Tonga they anticipated providing direct equipment repairs. However, they realised that Tonga's primary need was for long-term maintenance and technical expertise.
"There's a lot of programs out there where they send in teams of people that are trying to help and trying to make a difference," she said.
"These groups come in with a team, they might repair a bunch of equipment, they might build a clinic or outfit a ward or something like that; but then they leave and the only thing that remains is a plaque on the wall."
Tonga has equipment donated from all over the world which is given without tech support or manuals.
"What you have is a potential resource but who's going to unload the shipping container? Who's going to stage it somewhere and then repair it?
"I'm hoping that by educating the people, we can get a workforce of biomedical technicians that are there year-round who can continue to maintain and repair the equipment."
As well as helping Tonga, the trip gives a chance for the students to experience a unique learning experience, Munro said.
She said her students that went in 2019 completely changed how they thought about design.
"As a new engineer the temptation is to make something really clever and unique, but after having to repair something that somebody else designed, it's like, why couldn't they have used standard fasteners? Why did they have to put the wire all the way in the back behind this weld? Those types of things.
"Now they think about if this is going to be donated someday in some kind of a circular economy situation - is it fixable? Could someone take it apart, understand how to repair it?"