Inventing a medical tablet that is able to take and transmit a cardiac signal over a mobile network, from any point in the world was a challenge for Arthur Zang, a young Cameroonian engineer.
Cameroonian 'medical tech tablet' a boost for heart patients
Cameroon has a population of about 22 million people, with only 40 heart surgeons concentrated in Douala or Yaounde and which makes it difficult for heart patients in remote areas to obtain vital medical assistance. Sometimes the expertise needed can only be found outside the country.
That is exactly what made inventor Zang envision the project which he started seven years ago.
The young computer engineer said he needed additional training and $45,000 to develop the device. His family did not have the money and banks turned him down for loans, so he shared his idea on social media and he received funds from a number of investors.
Cameroonian Arthur Zang Invents The CardioPad https://t.co/67KBUU8FHK pic.twitter.com/avDBTN4z3Y— Answers Africa (@AnswersAfrica) April 12, 2016
He also got free online training from an engineering school in India.
“When I decided to design the tablet at the electronic level, I did not have the knowledge because I was basically a computer science engineer. So I decided to learn electronics online. So I went to the internet and discovered a free education program provided by the Indian Institute of technology. This is how I learned electronics online,” said Zang.
The Cardiopad has been validated by the Cameroon scientific community as extremely effective.
The 25 centimeter touch screen connects to electrodes placed on a patient’s heart and transmits a digitized heart signal via a Bluetooth interface over a mobile network.
Zang managed to produce in February the first hundred copies of the cardiopads. The units were assembled in China.
To date, the young inventor has already claimed production of some 300 “cardiopads.”
After the challenge of design and production, Zang has now began building in Cameroon a mounting unit of the medical tablet which is valued at 100 million CFA francs
To date, 47 premier cardiopad copies have been sold in Gabon, India and Nepal generating a revenue of 2 million Francs. Each kit costs 4,000 dollars.