YAOUNDE, Cameroon — The Cardiopad is a new tablet with the ability to send patient information thousands of miles wirelessly to experts who can interpret the data. Inventor Arthur Zang designed it to help his home country of Cameroon provide healthcare to its people.
While the Cardiopad is gaining attention from Cameroon’s scientific community, it is also catching international eyes.
The device is a 25 centimeter touch-screen tablet. It contains an electrocardiograph, a radioscope and a digital monitor. Its connectivity to the wider world comes from a SIM card, like those found in standard mobile phones, which syncs to Bluetooth.
With these SIM cards, the Cardiopad can send electrocardiograms to cardiologists who can analyze the results remotely, away from the patients, many of whom live in remote places. The cardiologists can even write electronic prescriptions.
Currently, more than 300 doctors in Germany, France, Italy, Sweden and other European countries are connected to the system.
These doctors do not need to work around the clock. The Cardiopad can collect data from multiple patients and send it over when doctors have time to look at it.
Cameroon is a country of 22 million people. To match this number, there are only 40 heart surgeons, and most of them are clustered around two cities, Douala and Yaounde. For every one trained physician in Cameroon, there are 1,000 people in need of healthcare.
This glaring healthcare gap is now being met with technology.
Engineer Arthur Zang came up with the idea for Cardiopad two years ago, at the age of 24. He approached banks, but was turned down. His family did not have the $45,000 startup funds either. He put his vision on the Internet and eventually got funded.
His biggest contributor was Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, who has provided $20 million for Zang to complete his project. The funds came from his own pocket, and Zang received no government assistance. The president provided enough funds for Zang to start his own company, Himore Medical.
Himore has built over 30 Cardiopads ready for use.
Since he was trained in computer science engineering, the Indian Institute of Technology also provided him free electrical engineering education.
In June, Zang received word that he was one of five winners of the Rolex Award for Enterprise. The award goes to people who are changing the world in one of five categories: science and health, applied technology, exploration and discovery, environment or cultural heritage. The multi-stage process involved paring down 1,829 project submissions to 300, then 100. The top 100 presented their ideas before a jury which interviewed them about their work. The top 22 went through that process again.
Zang went through this process and was awarded for his project.
Despite his success, Cameroon cannot fund putting the Cardiopad in many hospitals. The devices are $4,000, but there are also issues with hospitals lacking Internet access and energy sources to charge the machines. However, the international community is paying attention to Zang’s idea and Cameroon may find its funding.
Zang promises to work closely with physicians and not to expand until he receives adequate feedback from them. He also wants to wait until he gets offers from socially-conscious investors.
He says that despite getting commercial offers, he is looking for investors to have “a social commitment in keeping with the intentions of my partners.”
With the right assistance, Cardiopad could provide patients an easier and cheaper way to receive medical care.
– Monica Roth
Sources: Global Voices, Voice of America, Business in Cameroon, ENCA
Photo: 2 Eyes Watching