The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have graciously donated a critical piece of equipment for the Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD) at Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital.
The official handover took place at the Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital in Suva this morning by Elder Taniela Wakolo, President of the Pacific Area of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
He was accompanied by Elder Paul Whippy, Pacific Area Seventy and President Kamoe Varea.
Elder Taniela said that they are very happy to be able to contribute towards the wonderful work carried out by Sai Prema Foundation at Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints would like to extend our appreciation and acknowledge Sai Prema Foundation’s efforts to serve the underprivileged people of Fiji and the Pacific by providing free heart surgeries to children with congenital heart disease at Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital”, said Elder Taniela.
The equipment for the CSSD donated by LDS include an ultrasonic washer and steam sterilizer.
These will be used for sterilizing instruments required for all surgeries as well as any sterilizing requirements of Intensive Care Unit and the Ward areas.
The sterilizer was purchased from Getinge, Australia, and it was commissioned by them last week.
Sai Sanjeevani Hospital Director Dr Krupali Tappoo expressed her gratitude to the trustees in the Republic of Fiji of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for this very timely donation.
“With the regular surgical missions being conducted at Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital, the donated equipment for CSSD will enhance the sterilizing capability of surgical instruments.”
“The current sterilizer that we have has a capacity of 109 litres. This new sterilizer has a capacity of 287litres, which will greatly assist in sterilizing more surgical instruments at any given time.”
The new ultrasonic washer will make it possible to clean intricate parts with little or no disassembly, because ultrasound will clean wherever the cleaning liquid gets in contact with a surface.
“We are extremely grateful to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for their kind donation. The LDS church and Sai Prema Foundation Fiji share similar values in that love and service to humanity are important to both our organizations.”
The Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital provides free surgeries for children in Fiji and the Pacific Islands who suffer from congenital heart disease.
Through the Gift of Life program, over 232 free heart surgeries have been conducted.
Children from Fiji, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Tuvalu have been recipients of free heart surgeries giving them a new gift of life.
