- Damman Central Hospital
- Located in Dammam, Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia
- A Government hospital, under Ministry of Health KSA
- Number of beds: 451
Challenge
When the MERS epidemic struck Saudi Arabia, hospitals were not ready for the amount of patients that desperately needed isolation rooms. That was not the only challenge they were facing. In addition, existing isolation rooms which utilized HEPA filters were not functioning as expected. In Dammam Central Hospital, for example, the air pressure could not be kept stable in the rooms. The quality of air varied, so that the staff could not be certain of its safety and purity.
When the HEPA filters needed changing, the isolation rooms had to be evacuated. HEPA filters had even been found guilty of causing contaminations.
Solution
The objective was to prevent the epidemic from spreading. The hospital staff needed to be secured from airborne MERS-CoV viruses, that spread from infected person to others through respiratory secretions, such as coughing. Temporary isolation rooms were set up by installing Genano Air Decontamination Units with a negative pressure kit, to ensure constantly low air pressure. Several temporary isolation rooms were quickly assembled in hospitals in Dammam area, Jazzan and Al-Ahsa, in order to stop the airborne viruses from spreading, as Genano units eliminate all living microbes, such as MERS-CoV.
Result
With the help of Genano Aid Decontamination Units, Saudi Arabian hospitals and other healthcare facilities have been able to treat patients safely and without the risk of additional virus infections.
Genano helped build new isolation rooms rapidly and installed Air Decontamination Units to keep patients, visitors and health care professionals safe.
Dammam Central Hospital has reported that using Genano has been very successful.
As the devices use a different technology from HEPA filters, there is no risk of infection through the device itself.
- Air pressure in the isolation rooms has been stable, which it was not previously with HEPA filter purifiers.
- The isolation rooms could be used continuously, since there is no need for filter changes in the Genano air purifiers.
- The users are satisfied with the constant good quality of clean air and can now be certain that the air is safe.
- The isolation rooms were quickly assembled and ready to use as needed
Genano is also used in pathogen diagnostics facilities, PCR cleanrooms and isolation rooms of the Ministries of Agriculture and Health in Saudi Arabia.