Articles

An Audit to Compare the Availability and Distribution of Human Resources for Eye Care in Orlu and Owerri Metropolis in South-Eastern Nigeria Using Vision 2020 Standards as Benchmarks and Literature Review

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AIM: The purpose of this study was to compare the availability and distribution of the various cadres of eye care workforce in Orlu, a sub-urban setting and Owerri metropolis, an urban setting in Imo State, in South Eastern Nigeria, using Vision 2020 standards as benchmarks with Literature review.

Methodology: Two areas in Imo State, namely Orlu and Owerri metropolis were used in this study. This was both a quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional survey. The quantitative data was assessed by distributing interviewer-administered questionnaires to the different categories of eye care workers (ECWs) in the various public health care facilities used in the study. The questionnaires contained sub-sections on the subjects’ sex, age, religion, marital status, level of education, years in service, location of residence, and training in eye care. The qualitative research covered training in eye careappropriateness to job postings as well as sponsorship to updates and workshops/refresher courses  by the various cadres  of eye care workers in the health care facilities under study, using focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) .The qualitative interviews of the participants covered the state of study, the study area, type of health facility, sex, type of interview and the category of eye care worker (ECW) and the serial number of the interviewed participant.

Results: The results of the study showed that the eye care workers (n=271) working in 28 public health care Institutions included 45(16.6%) males and 226(83.4%) females with age range of 20-65years, and modal age range of 30-39years, with a mean age of 42.23±11.0 S.D. years. A large proportion 216(79.7%) of ECWs were married and most 206(76.0%) of the workers had tertiary education. A large proportion 170(62.7%) of the ECWs live in Owerri and the same number(62.7%) also work in Owerri, and 102(37.6%)were integrated eye care workers(IECWs). The qualitative survey also showed that some of the workers were not appropriately posted to their areas of specialization, not trained in eye care and were not sponsored to updates, workshops/ refresher courses and seminars.

Conclusion: The results of the study showed a skewed distribution of ophthalmic nurses, optometrists and ophthalmologists in favour of the urban, Owerri . However, the eye care personnel to population ratio could not be fully ascertained in this study due to non-contribution from privately-owned clinics which were not  included in this study. The obvious health care manpower mal-distribution gap could be urgently addressed through adequate provision of social amenities like safe water/electricity, recreational facilities, establishment of industrial estates in Orlu and other rural areas Imo State to generate employment opportunities to minimize the prevailing rural-urban drift of health care manpower. Training of eye health personnel (human resource development), one of the key goals of Vision 2020 was not met, but can be improved through re-training and in-service training with motivations and inducements in form of sponsorships to updates, workshops and refresher courses.  Additionally, the integration of primary eye care into the health care system of the state will go a long way in closing the existing health care gaps and by extension, the socio-economic gaps that exist between the more economically endowed Owerri and the rural population in Orlu, as it is popularly said that “health is wealth”.

Energize Transformer 400kVA at State Polytechnic of Samarinda with Simulation

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The purpose of this study is to analyze the performance and effectiveness of the Energize 400kVA Transformer model which acts as a step-up transformer in the electric power distribution system. The focus of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of the transformer in increasing the voltage from medium to higher levels and the impact of this conversion on power stability, energy losses, and thermal resistance.Testing was carried out by operating the transformer at various load levels and measuring performance parameters such as copper and iron losses, voltage regulation, and cooling capacity. The results showed that the Energize Transformer 400kVA can operate optimally as a step-up transformer with high efficiency in the load range of 70-90% of full capacity and good voltage stability when the load changes. The transformer cooling system also proved effective in maintaining the operating temperature within safe limits, thus contributing to a longer service life and shorter maintenance intervals. Based on these results, the Energize Transformer 400 kVA model is suitable for use as a step-up transformer in medium to large distribution networks, supporting optimal power quality and high operational efficiency.

Proposed Improvement of Pertalite Fuel Outbound Logistics Performance to Achieve Pertamina Patra Niaga MS2 Compliance (A Case Study of Bandung City)

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PT. Pertamina Patra Niaga was founded in 2004, is a sub-holding of PT. Pertamina which handles Pertamina’s downstream oil and gas processes, especially fuel trading and handling, as well as fleet and depot management. This study took Fuel Terminal Bandung Group – Ujung Berung as a research location which encounter issue related to the not achieved of the MS2 Compliance target in delivery time delay related to the external logistics performance. This research focuses on the delivery of Pertalite fuel in the city of Bandung in the third quarter of 2022.

This study aims to identify the factor that affect the value of MS2 Compliance in Fuel Terminal Bandung Group-Ujung Berung and initiate the improvement initiatives to improve outbound logistic performance for Fuel Terminal Bandung Group – Ujung Berung. The conceptual framework used in this research describes the supply chain design and focuses on outbound logistics in terms of moving the final product to the retailers to achieve responsive supply chain strategy is improving the outbound logistic performance. The equipment that used to carry the delivery are tank trucks. The method used in this study uses a quantitative approach with heuristic methods using a sweep algorithm. Quantitative data were obtained from company data, observations at the company and interviews with departments that related to the company’s logistics. Secondary data analysis using literature and company data.

The analysis was carried out by finding the root of the problem with a fishbone diagram and analysing quantitative data with a sweep algorithm. The analysis is carried out by taking days that have low MS2 Compliance in Quarter III 2022 in one week, where one day has three delivery batch. From the results of the analysis, it was found that there were four main causes, namely method, environment, human, and equipment factors. Then examine by the sweep algorithm analysis which results in more effective route selection and maximizing the use of tank trucks by calculating the travel time for each shipment by considering the allowance time for each shipment.