Keeping cool

With six new offerings of medical refrigerators for vaccines and for use in blood banks, Godrej Appliances aims to reduce wastage (of vaccines) by 30% in developing nations. Jamshyd Godrej, chairman and managing director of Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company was quoted in The Economic Times of June 29, 2016 that "when it comes to immunization, the cost of wastage must not be measured in dollars but in the count of lives lost.”

Kamal Nandi (left) and Jamshyd Godrej

The company entered into a partnership with the UK-based Sure Chill Company — a Bill Gates Foundation backed technology developer — in 2015, marking its first foray into healthcare refrigeration. The product was launched a year ago and the company is currently eyeing revenue of Rs 200 crores from the segment by 2020, states the report. The present capacity is 10,000 units per year, according to Kamal Nandi, business head - refrigerators of the company. It is planned to set up a capacity of 30,000 units over the next two years.
Water, not ice, surrounds a unit’s refrigeration compartment, mentions the website of the company. The cooling units do not need a constant source of power and can work even in areas where power is available intermittently, or with solar panels. The product can keep vaccines cool with as little as two-and-a-half hours of electricity per day at high ambient temperatures. Separate models are available for storage of vaccines and for blood.
According to the Business Standard of June 29, 2015, Godrej had stated that "it is Sure Chill’s technology that helped (the company) decide to get into the industry.” He stated that the company believed that demand for such refrigerators "is poised to grow as frequent power cuts and lack of last mile grid connectivity is a major issue in developing countries.” It was noted that globally some 151 million vaccines turn ineffective due to lack of proper storage — leading to $750 million of losses annually.
According to the report, the company has planned to sell vaccine refrigerators to 90 countries. "Our products are now approved by United National Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) and World Health Organisation, the largest buyers of vaccine refrigerators in the world,” Godrej was quoted.