Engineering World Health (EWH) and the GE Foundation have signed an agreement with Instituto Nacional de Formacion Profesional (INFOP) in Honduras that lays the foundation for expansion of the BMET Training Program. Since 2010, EWH and Duke University have led a continuing education program for biomedical equipment technicians from 12 public hospitals in Honduras. The agreement represents a move toward sustainability in that the program will be locally managed and operated.

The three-party agreement establishes a new field of training in Honduras and will offer an intensive, full-time training program for hands-on medical equipment repair and maintenance. INFOP will also create an independent academic department with three full-time faculty members and construct laboratory facilities to support the program at its campus in Tegucigalpa. The training will be led by the Honduran public sector through INFOP, with the first group of students beginning study in February.

The BMET training curriculum was developed by Robert Malkin’s Developing World Healthcare Technology lab, with help from undergraduate students at the Duke Pratt School of Engineering. A similar training program has been tailored for use in Ghana, Rwanda and Cambodia.