Lead batteries: protecting patients with vital back-up power

Lead batteries are providing vital back-up power for hospitals in the battle to contain COVID-19

Hospital patients’ lives depend on dedicated medical professionals and the systems and equipment they use.

Everything from heart monitors and infusions machines to defibrillators and feeding pumps must be working and available at all times, as any failure could have serious, even fatal, consequences.

That’s why lead batteries play such a crucial role in keeping hospitals running smoothly. They are integrated in uninterrupted supply systems providing vital back-up power in case of power outages.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals have been able to rely on lead batteries ensuring uninterrupted power supplies From the early days of the pandemic, FIAMM has supported battery replacement in Brescia city hospital, one of the most medical facilities on the front line of tackling the virus in Italy.

Millions of Europeans have been infected and hundreds of thousands have sadly lost their lives. As part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom, seven critical care temporary hospitals were established by the country’s national health service to treat COVID-19 patients. And FIAMM’s batteries have been installed, through business partners, in Britain’s purpose-built Nightingale hospitals.

FIAMM has also recently sponsored a project for the humanitarian non-governmental organization EMERGENCY, for the construction of a paediatric surgery hospital in Entebbe, Uganda. With three operating rooms and 78 beds, the building will make a significant contribution to improving health standards in the region, as well as serving as a focal point for children with special surgical needs from all over Africa. FIAMM industrial batteries for the UPS systems have been placed in operating theatres, laboratories, and data processing areas. It is vital to guarantee uninterrupted power for all these important services, supporting the electricity network, if the main system fails.

Back-up power is essential in a myriad of applications and industries but in the healthcare industry it can be the difference between life and death. If power is interrupted, critical operations and data are compromised. But if power is lost and back-up supply is not in place, many life saving devices and technologies could become compromised and the health of patients put at risk.

Read more for why analysts predict a high-growth future for lead batteries – a technology necessary for a decarbonised future

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