Business Summary

Project for Expansion of Intensive Care at Maternal and Child Health Center and Pediatric Hospital at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences

In Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, there is the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, which is the country's top medical research and educational institutions and the largest comprehensive medical facility used by many citizens. About 30 years ago, the Maternal and Child Health Center and the Children's Hospital were constructed with Japanese assistance. Both facilities have saved many lives, but in recent years, the number of patients has increased significantly, leading to a shortage of medical equipment and treatment facilities. In particular, the operating room of the Maternal and Child Health Center has 5,800 emergency caesarean sections per year, scheduled gynecological surgeries have been postponed chronically, and there are not enough hospital beds, so in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and obstetrics and gynecology ward, one incubator and bed have to be used by multiple patients. To improve this situation, the Pakistani government requested assistance from the Japanese government to expand and strengthen the functions of the Maternal and Child Health Center and the Pediatric Hospital. In response, the Japanese government implemented a project to construct new facilities for high-risk pregnant women and children and to procure medical equipment.

For this project, we, Estrella Inc, were responsible for procurement and installation of the necessary medical equipment as well as training in their operation and maintenance for the medical equipment.

Worldwide Project to Strengthen Intensive Care Capacity Using Tele-Technology During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Universal Health Coverage (UHC), a state in which everyone has access to adequate health care services at an affordable cost, has been identified as one of the key targets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), there was an urgent need to expand infectious disease control measures and rapidly strengthen health systems in developing countries in order to achieve UHC. Especially in developing countries where the spread of new infectious disease has a serious impact on the economy and society, and where there are concerns about the outbreak and spread of new infectious diseases in the future, strengthening the ability to deal with these issues was essential and required rapid support.

Therefore, the Japanese government implemented a wide-area project with two main plans for developing countries that need to strengthen their health care systems for patient care: the establishment of a remote network for guidance and advice by Japanese expert for intensive care physicians, and the development of medical equipment and facilities necessary for intensive care of critically ill patients.

As part of this project, we, Estrella Inc, procured, installed and set up the medical equipment required for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for critically ill patients at Santa Cruz General Hospital (commonly known as "Japanese Hospital"), a key hospital built in 1986 with Japanese grant aid in the province of Santa Cruz, second largest city in Bolivia, South America.

Mother and Child Health Project in Chontales Health District and Celaya Central Health District

Health services are provided free of charge in Nicaragua. As the basis of health and medical services, ``Family Community Health Teams'' are assigned in each region to carry out disease prevention, medical treatment, and health promotion activities. This team is made up of doctors, nurses, and local health volunteers who are familiar with the families and lifestyles of the area. The Ministry of Health aims to quickly connect pregnant women and sick people with medical facilities through team patrols, to provide medical services for safe delivery and appropriate treatment.

However, currently, due to poor access and insufficient health education in rural areas, some high-risk pregnant women, including young pregnancies, give birth at home, etc., and even hospitals do not have the ability to provide emergency obstetric care functions. There was an urgent need to improve the quality of health and medical services. Therefore, there was a need to improve the provision of medical services, especially in rural areas, and to promote participatory health promotion among residents, and a technical cooperation project was launched with support from Japan.

In Chontares Health District and Celaya Central Health District, located in the southeastern part of Nicaragua, we created training programs for medical workers, maintained and managed equipment provided by the project, created a practical activity model for family and community health teams, and conducted training programs for health districts. We worked to improve management and the emergency transport system. We also held an international forum to share and disseminate the results of our activities in Nicaragua and abroad.

Mother and Child Primary Health Care Project

In the Dominican Republic, there are many cases in which pregnant women give birth in hospitals without having undergone antenatal check-ups to assess the risks, and cases in which post-natal check-ups and newborn care are not provided. In order to improve this situation, the Ministry of Health has undertaken various initiatives in collaboration with international cooperation organizations.

In recent years, we have implemented a project with the aim at improving the quality of maternal and newborn care in four northeastern prefectures, where the number of pregnant women arriving from neighboring Haiti has been increasing. Japan provided support to strengthen the capacity of human resources at health facilities, including assistant nurses and their supervisors, who are responsible for community health care, and to improve the emergency transport system for pregnant and nursing mothers. our company dispatched experts in maternal and child health and IEC (information, education, and communication) to the project.

Integrated Natural Disaster Risk Management National Strategy Strengthening Project

In recent years, natural disasters such as landslides have been occurring frequently. In January 2011, large -scale landslides occurred in hundreds of locations, mainly in the mountains of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. A large amount of soil and sand washed away the historic city, which has long been known as a tourist destination, leaving about 1,000 people dead and missing. This disaster prompted the Brazilian government to restructure its national policies and strategies to deal with natural disasters, and requested technical cooperation from the Japanese government, which has knowledge and experience in disaster management, to implement integrated activities related to risk management.

This project, which is the first comprehensive disaster prevention cooperation between Brazil and Japan, aims to reduce the risk of landslide disasters, including identification of disaster risks understanding, urban expansion planning based on that information, monitoring, and information dissemination in which we aim to strengthen our response capabilities.

Follow-up Cooperation for the Project on Improvement of Diagnostic Techniques for Livestock Infectious Diseases

The Mongolian government is strengthening livestock disease control and management with the aim at expanding exports of value-added livestock products. The Institute of Veterinary Medicine of the National University of Agriculture, which was the implementing organization for the Project, many advanced analytical instruments were installed. However, due to a lack of engineers who could properly maintain and manage the equipment, the equipment was not functioning satisfactorily.

In order to improve this situation, a request was made to Japan for technical assistance. In response to this request, our company dispatched experts to provide technical guidance on failure diagnosis methods, first aid measures when genuine parts are not available, and how to identify spare parts.

Project to strengthen medical equipment Management at Referral Hospitals

In Cambodia, the country's health system suffered a devastating blow as the country's civil war, which had continued since the 1970s, caused a drastic change in the number of medical personnel, as well as the destruction of medical facilities and equipment. After the end of the civil war in 1991, the Cambodian government aimed at rebuilding the country while receiving assistance from international organizations and other countries, it worked to improve health and medical systems and develop medical human resources and improvement of infrastrucfures, as well as to purchase medical facilities, medical equipment, etc. However, as a result of not being able to start building a system for maintaining and managing these medical equipment, public medical facilities across the country were unable to properly use and maintain medical equipment, resulting in sporadic breakdowns.

In order to improve this situation, the Cambodian and Japanese governments have launched a project to strengthen medical equipment management at Referral Hospitals. In order to promote the implementation of this project, our company built a management system necessary for maintaining and managing medical equipment at public hospitals nationwide, and trained personnel to properly operate and manage this system.

Preparatory survey for the construction project of an outpatient ward at Cairo University Children's Hospital

Cairo University Children's Hospital is raising the standard of pediatric care through clinical research.

It plays a leading role in pediatric medical care in Egypt and is expected to be a core hospital for pediatric medical services for the poor. However, at that time, the number of patients visiting the hospital from rural areas increased rapidly, far exceeding the number of patients that could be handled, placing a heavy burden on the hospital's functions.

In order to restore the hospital functions of the existing facility and make full use of the hospital's medical technology, it was necessary to urgently construct an outpatient ward.

Therefore, in 2008, our company conducted various surveys as a preparatory study for grant aid.

Khartoum Training Hospital Follow-up Survey

Toibun Sina Hospital, located in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, was constructed and equipped with medical equipment through Japan’s grant aid since 1982.In addition, technical cooperation projects were carried out from 1985 to 1992, and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers were dispatched to the hospital in 1990 to expand its functions as Khartoum's core hospital.

During this period, the hospital has been working to maintain and manage the facilities, equipment, and medical equipment that it has received aid to date by voluntarily repairing them.However, the hospital’s financial resources and technology were no longer sufficient to repair and update as the civil war intensified.

In order to overcome this situation as soon as possible, the Sudanese government requested Japan's follow-up cooperation in providing urgently needed medical equipment and facilities. Our company participated in the survey related to this follow-up cooperation.