Ground-breaking refrigerator technology will save lives
This innovation is critical for health facilities such as clinics, hospitals and other healthcare providers
LOAD shedding? No problem. Extremely hot temperatures? Just chill, because Zero Medical in Chloorkop has invented ground-breaking vaccine refrigerators, designed with a unique technology that continues operating without electricity for up to 17 days.
There are two different versions of the refrigerator, one operating on main electricity and the other on solar power.
The patented system utilises solar direct drive (SDD) technology and is so advanced that it requires absolutely no batteries. The energy is stored within the patented technology, thus keeping vaccines safe from losing their potency or even becoming life threatening.
“Almost all lifesaving vaccines need to be stored at temperatures between two to eight degrees Celsius. If these vaccines are exposed to temperatures outside these parameters it loses its potency and efficiency and in some cases can be lethal when injected into a patient,” Albert Wessels, executive at Zero Medical, explained.
There is a variety of vaccines requiring the utmost care when it comes to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) targeted for elimination and eradication of diseases such as polio, measles, neonatal tetanus (NNT), Hepatitis B, TB and pneumococcal infections, among others.
Zero Medical is the only WHO approved manufacturer of vaccine storage refrigerators in the whole of the southern hemisphere.
The Chloorkop based production facility is a division of Zero Appliances, who are manufactures of LP Gas and paraffin operated household and commercial cold chain equipment such as fridges and chest freezers.
They teamed up with UK-based The Sure Chill Company in a technology transfer deal.
The fridges are WHO performance, quality and safety (PQS) approved, meaning they adhere to the organisation’s very stringent standards of safe and effective cold chain equipment and other products for immunisation delivery, such as vaccine carrier boxes.
These fridges were tested under severely hot temperatures of up to 43 degrees Celsius, so as to ensure that the vaccines would be kept safe even under extreme weather conditions
“Where most manufacturers promise up to 24, maybe 48 hours for the vaccines to be maintained, we guarantee 17 days in average day and night conditions. We also guarantee no freezing of vaccines as the refrigerators are water lined, not ice or eutectic lined like most other competitors. As a result Zero received a grade A freeze-protect accreditation, the best one can get, from WHO,” Wessels added.
Considering the African continent where for many, proper public healthcare facilities are few and far between, especially in rural areas; creating such a product will provide safe and effective vaccinations for many babies and children.
This innovation is therefore critical for health facilities such as clinics, hospitals and other healthcare providers and professionals. The last thing any caring mother needs is to walk for miles to do the right thing for her child, wait in a long queue at a clinic, then only to be turned away because there is no electricity, therefore making the vaccines ineffective.
With this technology health care professionals can still dispense vaccines.
Damaged vaccines also means lots of money down the drain (mainly taxpayers’ money), with a single shot of vaccination costing hundreds of Rands.
“For example if a specific flu vaccine for infants costs about R500 a shot, meaning at any given time a public healthcare facility can have a half a million, to a million Rands worth of stock in a single fridge. If that refrigerator goes out of range (correct temperature), you’ll have to throw it away because the vaccines will lose their potency,” Gerád Wessels, the group operations director, explained.
Not only will the fridges save healthcare facilities millions of Rands, but also save the environment from harmful gases that contribute to global warming.
“The units use green technology, making them completely environmentally-friendly and have no ozone-depleting or global warming potential,” Wessels added, referring to the methyl formate insulation process they use on the units, which is currently the most environmentally friendly in the world.
The technology has already won three major international awards for their innovation, including the Most Innovative New Cold Chain Technology of the Year prize at the Cold Chain Forum Excellence Awards in the USA last year. They were also winners of the Sustainable Refrigeration category award at the Institution of Engineering and Technology Awards in Italy and were also recognised at the Well Tech Awards when they won the Quality of Life Innovation award in the UK, in the process beating over 400 highly acclaimed global participants.
This highly advanced technology will soon also be available in domestic and household refrigeration.
For any enquiries contact 010 207 1600.
