Mobile technologies are rapidly being applied to the healthcare setting, but a recent development in Cameroon is thought to be a first “medical tablet” on the African continent.
Arthur Zang, a 26-year-old inventor, has come up with the Cardio Pad, which is being tested in the small village of Mbankomo outside of Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé.
Zang tells the website How We Made it in Africa that the tablet, which permits healthcare workers in remote areas to perform cardiac tests, could fill a huge void – Cameroon has fewer than 50 cardiologists for more than 20 million people, he says, all of whom are located in the bigger cities and their hospitals. Currently, any patient outside of the city must travel each time they need a test performed, which can be both costly and time consuming and make for difficult follow-ups.
Enter the Cardio Pad, which is equipped with a complete diagnostic kit and could be put into the hands of rural healthcare workers who aren’t cardiologists but who can operate the pads, Zang says.
The pads include a wireless set of four electrodes and a sensor that are attached to the patient and then transmit signals by way of Bluetooth. It can take ECG of the patient’s heart, which can then be submitted to a national data center to cardiologists, who can then diagnose.
Zang estimates the pads only cost $1,000 to manufacture, depending on whether the electronic components are available. If and when he can get the pads manufactured, he says he could sell a complete kit in Africa for $3,000 to $3,500 – nearly half the cost of similar portable devices.
“Compared to all the other devices that perform the same work, the Cardio Pad is very, very low cost,” he told the website, adding that he hopes to move the manufacturing from China to Cameroon in the near future.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Zang was selected as one of five Young Laureates by Rolex and awarded about $55,000 that will help him make 100 tables, or 10 for each of Cameroon’s provinces. He is also hoping to develop additional devices such as ultrasound equipment to assist exams in other poor, rural parts of Africa.
