The Diego González Rivas Foundation’s Mobile Laparoscopic Surgical Unit is, today, one of a kind in the world. Built with the most advanced technology available — including solar panels that make it self-sufficient in the most remote environments — it represents in itself an engineering feat at the service of medicine. And yet, the Foundation never stops improving it.
A team of three teachers from the As Mercedes Vocational Training Centre in Lugo — specialists in electrical engineering, mechanics and electronics — has just completed the design and construction of a redundant power plant that adds a new layer of operational safety to the unit. The system duplicates the electrical supply: should one circuit require attention, the second takes over automatically and instantaneously, without the surgical team perceiving any interruption whatsoever. A level of resilience that, according to the technicians themselves, exceeds the standards of many conventional hospitals.
The plant has also been designed with a purpose that extends beyond the unit itself. Fitted with wheels and fully autonomous, it can be connected to local hospital facilities to provide emergency power to neonatal units, incubators or critical equipment when needed. Engineering conceived, in every detail, to protect lives.
From the Field to the Solution
Víctor Paz, Leticia Conde and Alberto Pereira know the Mobile Unit like few others do. They travelled to Sierra Leone for the first time as volunteers, faced extraordinarily demanding conditions, and showed a determination that led them to become an indispensable part of the Foundation’s team. It was they who, on the ground and with the mission on the line, brought the unit into operation when everything seemed to be hanging in the balance — going on to carry out all planned procedures with full guarantees.
That first-hand, visceral experience was precisely what planted the seed for this project. Upon returning, the three technicians knew exactly what they wanted to build and why. The new redundant power plant is the result of that journey: a solution born from those who know the field, designed so that every mission that follows is safer than the one before.
“We are enormously proud to have three such skilled and committed teachers by our side,” said Carla Salgado, Director of the Foundation. “Their involvement goes far beyond maintenance: they are an active part of every mission, working tirelessly to ensure the unit is always equal to what the field demands. They are a privilege for us and for the people we serve.”
The Xunta de Galicia, Present at Every Step Forward
The project was presented this week at an institutional event held at the centre itself, attended by Eugenia Pérez, Director General of Vocational Training of the Xunta de Galicia; territorial delegate Javier Arias Fouz; the territorial head of education, Sagrario Nanche; and Joaquín Espósito, director of the centre, who expressed the pride of the entire institution in the work of its teaching staff.
A gathering that highlights the alliance between the excellence of Galician vocational training and international health cooperation, and that strengthens the collaboration agreement the Foundation holds with the Xunta de Galicia.
Heading to Liberia with the Mobile Unit
The three technicians depart in the coming days for Liberia, where they will support the Mobile Unit’s surgical mission scheduled for this month of April. The new power plant will be operational for the following mission, planned in Sierra Leone at the end of August, and from that point on will form a permanent part of the unit’s deployment across Africa.
Because the Diego González Rivas Foundation understands excellence as a moving horizon: there is always a further improvement to be made, always one more life to protect. Nothing is impossible.
