Extreme Biomedical Engineering (Western Africa)

Abstract

In Brief Can a micromodeled health technology management system designed for a harsh and isolated environment of the Canadian Northwest Territories be transferred in a sustainable way to West Africa? Even more, can the program take the next step and actually take on more scope of responsibility than many well-established Western programs (eg, full in-house support of high-level laboratory technology and radiology technology)? From polar bears, ice roads on the Arctic Ocean, and −50 °C to monitor lizards, African roads, and greater than 38 °C, this is extreme biomedical engineering. In the past 4 years, the United Kingdom's Medical Research Council Laboratories in The Gambia, West Africa, has transformed a group of 3 junior electronic assistants repairing only very minor equipment out of one-third of a modified shipping container into a full biomedical technology management program that supports complex laboratory and diagnostic imaging technologies "in-house" with a staff of 10 and significant resources. Can a micromodeled health technology management system designed for a harsh and isolated environment of the Canadian Northwest Territories be transferred in a sustainable way to West Africa? Even more, can the program take the next step and actually take on more scope of responsibility than many well-established Western programs (eg, full in-house support of high-level laboratory technology and radiology technology)? From polar bears, ice roads on the Arctic Ocean, and -50 °C to monitor lizards, African roads, and greater than 38 °C, this is extreme biomedical engineering. In the past 4 years, the United Kingdom's Medical Research Council Laboratories in The Gambia, West Africa, has transformed a group of 3 junior electronic assistants repairing only very minor equipment out of one-third of a modified shipping container into a full biomedical technology management program that supports complex laboratory and diagnostic imaging technologies "in-house" with a staff of 10 and significant resources.