Medical equipment for poor countries

The World Health Organization estimates that up to three quarters of medical equipment donated from the West are completely useless in the world's poorest countries.

Pressure regulators, infrared sensor technology and ultrasound scanners are some of the redundant devices that are rarely used in poor countries around the world. The reason is that patients in poor countries are completely different from developed countries. That is not to mention other objective factors such as lack of electricity, no spare parts and no trained professionals to use these high-tech devices.

In the face of such futile wastage, the British Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE) has called on the world to make more appropriate technologies in the context of developing countries. According to the Guardian newspaper quoted IMechE experts, what poor countries need is not outdated technology equipment, but must have a different approach.

In a meeting held in London, IMechE gathered engineers, medical experts, benefactors and welfare funds to find the best way to avoid the situation that medical equipment keeps on dusting. while health care conditions have not improved.

Ambulance car and Hearware hearing aid - (Photo: IMechE)

At the conference, products designed specifically for developing countries were introduced. It is possible to use a handy nipple for HIV-positive mothers but can still breastfeed safely; Ambulance vehicles assembled from a motorbike pass by the side of the vehicle; Mobile-connected stethoscope allows doctors to keep track of the health status of distant patients. Among them, the heart rate monitor is an extremely impressive invention.

Accordingly, the mobile phone microphone is used as a stethoscope to analyze and record the patient's heart rate. This device primarily monitors patients with tuberculous pericarditis, which affects about 10% of patients with tuberculosis as well as unusually high mortality rates, up to 40%.

In addition, participating organizations offer convenient solutions without the need to apply high technology, such as the HealthProm donkey's ambulance car, especially for remote villages in Afghanistan. . Another device is a solar powered hearing aid called Hearware, which works on the principle of bone movement, moving sound vibrations to the cochlea, in accordance with the hearing loss due to ear infections. in many developing countries. Solar-powered batteries last up to 3 days, and each charge takes 4 hours in the sun, according to Glasgow University.

Dr Patrick Finlay, head of IMechE's medical department, said: 'Simple, inexpensive technologies built specifically for the needs of developed countries can save thousands of lives.' According to him, this depends on whether scientific organizations in the world have strong enthusiasm and motivation to bring products that are useful to the poor. Most of the equipment mentioned above should be tested in practice as well as attracting appropriate investment sources before reaching the hands of those who need them.