Feature
THE BACKBONE OF
HEALTHCARE FACILITIES
By Devon Marks, business development manager, Draeger
A medical gas system is the backbone of any healthcare facility. Without
this life support system there would be no hospital.
F
ailure of this system would have catastrophic consequences
hence the requirement for high quality standards and safety
features. A medical gas management system is supposed to
deliver all required medical gases continually and securely at the
required flow, pressure and quality.
The areas in which medical gases are most commonly found
in a healthcare facility are operating theatres, recovery areas,
intensive care units, high care areas, ward areas. Medical gas
can be found in almost every space where patients are present
in the hospital.
STANDARDS
A functional
medical gas
system is
essential for
any healthcare
facility.
26
INSTALLATION
The medical gas system is a complex network made up of
hundreds to thousands of metres of copper pipes, alarms
cables as well as plant equipment such as compressors, vacuum
pumps and manifolds. While installing these during construction
phase or even during an expansion to existing facilities there
are many challenges faced. Some of these include extremely
tight deadlines, leakages in almost impossible to access spaces,
routing issues and cross connections of gases if care is not taken.
IMPLEMENTATION IN SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa’s medical gas division is a very grey area as there
is little to no regulation over how installations are performed
as well as minimal information available to assist with a proper
design. Essentially what must happen is the design should be
South African standards relating to medical gas are found in
SANS 7396-1 and 2 as well as Pressure Equipment Regulations
of 2009. These are the only standards for South Africa. This
standard is derived from the ISO 7396-1 and 2 and South
Africa is a member body of International Organization for
Standardization (ISO). Guidelines such as the R158 and IUSS exist
which define minimum requirements, but these make reference
to SANS 7396. There are other South African Standards which
deal with specific aspects of the entire system for example SANS
1409 and 1453.
RACA Journal I February 2020
www.hvacronline.co.za