Mak students innovate patient monitoring system to safeguard medics

Aug 04, 2021

Mirembe explained that the device can also be customised and changed in programming, depending on the disease, saying that even when a cure for COVID-19 is discovered, the device can still be used.

The new innovation by Makerere University will reduce physical interaction between patients and medical workers

Agnes Nantambi
Journalist @New Vision

Makerere University students have designed a medicine delivery and patient monitoring device to safeguard medical workers against contracting the deadly COVID-19.

The students from Makerere College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT), in partnership with the College of Health Sciences, said the device minimises physical interaction between patients and health workers.

The team, led by Brian Ebiau, a fourth[1]year student of electrical engineering, emphasised that the device was designed for quarantine and isolation centres.

According to Betty Mirembe, a fourth[1]year student of telecommunications engineering, the device can also be used for home care to minimise physical interaction between the patient and the person taking care of them since they are overexposed.

“We want to develop a system which mixes the two — timely medicine delivery, while relaying the patient symptom data to the medical personnel. We designed a circuit and a system software and integrated the two to come up with a prototype that is functional,” she said.

“Health workers are among the highest groups at risk of infection. There is need to minimise physical engagements between them and the patients.”

Speaking during the Virtual Higher Education Partnerships for Sub-Saharan Africa (HEPSSA) project workshop organised by CEDAT, Mirembe stressed that Uganda has registered an increasing number of infections, which created an urgent need to respond, given the rise in the deaths of health workers.

“Deaths among health workers is attributed to inadequate personal protective equipment since they are frequently engaged with patients. These being frontliners, there is need to make sure that they are actually safe and we can minimise this by using the device,” she said.

Mirembe explained that the device can also be customised and changed in programming, depending on the disease, saying that even when a cure for COVID-19 is discovered, the device can still be used.

 

HOW IT WORKS

According to Mirembe, the device was innovated under a two-year HEPSSA project funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering of United Kingdom at a £200,000 (sh98m) budget.

“We are working on producing a working prototype as soon as possible to ensure that physical interaction between patients and health workers is minimised. The device operates in a way that the doctors will be setting the dosage every after 24 hours and this will be erased automatically and the patient gets the notification to take the medicine.

“After receiving the notification, the patient will place the hand and the contact play sensor will detect it and dispense the medicine,” she added.

As they pick the medicine, the contact play sensor also takes the record of the temperature as the pulse oximeter embedded to the devise measures the oxygen levels to ensure that the person breathes well while asking them questions about their general feeling.

Once the patients respond to the questions, everything is stored on the display card and relayed to the medical personnel through an SMS.

Mirembe explained that this gives a chance to the medical personnel to know how the patient is doing and they can come in whenever they feel fit, which minimises interactions between the two.

 

PARTNERSHIPS

The principal of CEDAT, Prof. Henry Alinaitwe, said the HEPSSA project is being implemented in partnership with the University of Dar es Salaam, Moi University and Leeds University, among other partners.

Regarding engineering education in Africa, Prof. Alinaitwe stressed that Uganda has few graduates in the discipline, with less than 600 engineers produced every year and less than 1,300 registered with the engineers registration board.

According to Alinaitwe, every year, Africa produces about 50,000 engineers compared to China which produces 2,500,000. He observed that many engineers are not hands-on and are not able to address the pertinent issues facing society.

He added that the HEPSSA project will ensure that graduates are practical, enriching engineering education, in addition to contributing to engineering capacity development in the region.

Prof. Tickodri Togboa, the former deputy vice-chancellor of Makerere University, expressed the need to embrace innovation in order to realise new products.

“We need to shape the country’s innovation model so that a lot can be invested in the country’s human resource,” he said.

Prof. Togboa

Prof. Togboa

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