A young Cameroonian Engineer Arthur Zang, 24 years old, has invented Africa’s first Touch Screen medical tablet, called the Cardiopad.
This device spares African patients residing in remote areas the trouble of travelling to urban centers to seek medical attention.Zang believes that the invention could save numerous human lives, with its reliability as high as 97.5%. He says that he invented the device to facilitate treatment of patients with heart diseases in Cameroon and the whole of Africa. Several medical tests have already been carried out using the Cardiopad, and validated by the Cameroonian scientific community.
Cameroon is located in Central Africa, with a population of 20 million people, but only 30 heart surgeons. Most of these heart surgeons are located in the country’s most important economic hubs, Yaoundé and Douala, leaving patients with no choice but to travel to these areas for treatment. With this severe shortage, most of them must make appointments months in advance, with others even dying in the process of waiting for the appointment.
According to Radio Netherlands, which broke the story this week, “the tablet is used as a classical electrocardiograph device: electrodes are placed on the patient and connected to a module that, in turn, connects to the tablet. When a medical examination is performed on a patient in a remote village, for example, the results are transmitted from the nurse’s tablet to that of the doctor who then interprets them.”
Zang said that the “software built into the device allows doctors to give computerized assisted diagnosis.” He goes ahead to add, “The Cardiopad will cut down the cost of examination. We intend to sell the device for 1500 euros, while the current price for an electrocardiograph device is 3800 euros. With this in place, Zang believes that his invention will cut down the cost of heart examinations, and also increase the number of patients treated. Currently, the inventor is looking for venture capital for its commercial production.
