Arthur Zang, A Young African Invents Touch Screen Medical Tablet

The Media is often filled with negative news on Africa and its people. So many people do not know, or even have a clue about Africa.
 The Ignorance is sometimes astounding, only yesterday at the gym, another person asked me " Do you see lions in your backyard. I chuckled to myself, as I am now used to these questions, from curious even though sometimes ignorant minds. No, we don't all have Giraffes and Lions strolling in our neighborhood.

I only see Lions at the Zoo or games reserve. We have and live in cities too, watch Cable Television and take vacations to Europe, America, and the South of France, more before than now.  I am not talking about corrupt Politicians, my father was not a Politician. I am talking about honest hard-working civil servants and professionals. The middle class has been almost completely wiped out now.  The Nigerian economy was booming, the Nigerian Naira was more than the USD,  and almost at par with the GBP. The economies of many African nations like mine have been "screwed' and the subject of how we screwed ourselves over, with the help of our Western allies is a topic for another day.

That is why some of us Professionals are now working in the West.

  Read people, read books written by Africans and get to know the real Africa. With the computer and internet readily available in the WEST, no one has any excuse to be ignorant about any subject in the world.

So when I find news like this, I try to spread the news as much as I can, hoping that people will read and listen.

Arthur Zang, a 24-year-old Cameroonian engineer, has invented the Cardiopad, a touch screen medical tablet that enables heart examinations such as the electrocardiogram (ECG) to be performed at remote, rural locations while the results of the test are transferred wirelessly to specialists who can interpret them. The device spares African patients living in remote areas the trouble of having to travel to urban centers to seek medical examinations.

 

 

According to Zang, the Cardiopad is “the first fully touch screen medical tablet made in Cameroon and in Africa.” He believes it is an invention that could save numerous human lives and says the reliability of the pad device is as high as 97.5%. Zang says he invented the device in order to facilitate the treatment of patients with heart disease across Cameroon and the rest of Africa. So far, several medical tests have been carried out with the Cardiopad which have been validated by the Cameroonian scientific community.
According to Radio Netherlands, which broke the story of the Cardiopad earlier 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.”

According to Zang, “software built into the device allows the doctor to give a computer-assisted diagnosis.”
Cameroon, a Central African country with a population of some 20 million people, lays claim to only 30 heart surgeons. To make matters worse, these heart surgeons are mainly concentrated in Douala or Yaoundé, the country’s two most important economic hubs. This severe deficit of medical personnel means that patients with heart ailments usually have to travel long distances to undergo heart examinations and consult with doctors. Even at that, it is still not easy. On some occasions, patients must make appointments months in advance, and some even die in the process of waiting for their appointment.
Zang believes his invention will cut down the cost of heart examinations. The Cardiopad is already generating a lot of interest in African tech and medical circles. The inventor is currently looking for venture capital to commercially produce the device.