Kitchen adjacent.

Technicians setting up to fix medical lamps in a dining room, next to a kitchen. Guatemala, 2024

Many times I've found myself trying to fix medical equipment in strange places in hospitals without a biomed workshop. Sometimes its a classroom, sometimes a concrete verandah. Sometimes a church. But the best places have been old kitchens - a place that has bench space, light, power, water, cupboards.

Here are some trainees setting up to fix lamps in a dining hall in a hospital in Xela, Guatemala, 2024.

What makes a good workshop? Same things that make a good kitchen:

Light, space, benches, cupboards, a pantry full of spare parts, drawers for tools and small items, water, drainage, power outlets in abundance. A fridge for samples, reagents, solvents and sometimes batteries. A freezer for cold-packs.

When you need to design and build a workshop: think about a kitchen, get rid of the oven and stove, and you’re most of the way there.