By Dufie Boakye
Although, I am not a dab hand regarding the truest state of Ghana’s healthcare system, the last four years have afforded me great insights into Ghana’s health sector.
I have been privileged to work on diverse projects in the sector such as: telemedicine, community health strengthening, health insurance and nutrition.
The experiences I have garnered working with people from different communities in Ghana have been endearing, from co-organizing several public health screenings in communities such as Asutsuare, Ashaiman and Asawase, working on the establishment of potable boreholes to provide cleaner water in Doboro, Oboadaka, working on COVID-19 RNA self-testing kits, and even being involved in a project that focused on the establishment of a locally-manufactured ventilator machine, I have come to appreciate quite immensely that our healthcare sector can boast of an appreciable number of qualified personnel who are overly committed to doing their part wherever they find themselves and innovators who are ever-willing to innovate with scanty resources.
However, in 2022, I started working on a project centered on biomedical engineering in Ghana, and I realized that our healthcare sector is in dire need of an innovation-driven system.
Biomedical engineering, although a relatively younger engineering discipline in the global space, has established its roots in Ghana. Universities such as Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Ghana among others have over the years produced first-rate biomedical engineers.
Quite simply, biomedical engineers by training focus on emerging technologies and medicine to develop new healthcare devices and equipment aimed at general improvement of human health.
Be that as it may, these trained biomedical engineers often find themselves in clinical engineering which refers to the application of technology for health care in hospitals.
It is however important to know that biomedical engineering has diverse branches such as medical imaging, biomaterials, bioinformatics, genetic engineering, bioinstrumentation and many other branches.
Very few graduates can explore extensively beyond being clinicians and researchers due to the limitations relating to manufacturing and even maintenance of medical equipment and apparatus in Ghana and some parts of Africa.
There are however some African countries continually breaking fresh ground in medical equipment manufacturing. Countries such as South Africa, Nigeria and Tunisia are manufacturing diagnostic imaging equipment such as MRI and CT scan machines.
There are other African innovators producing blood pressure monitors, wheelchairs, artificial limbs, rapid diagnostic tests for malaria and generally medical consumables such as: bandages, syringes and gloves. The African medical devices landscape is expected to rake in about $10 billion by close of 2025, also South Africa’s medical devices market is expected to be worth $273.48 million by 2033.
With this information, why is it important for Ghana to explore and invest in innovators to invent, manufacture and maintain medical equipment and apparatus?
First, in manufacturing locally made equipment, the health sector is positioned to deliver healthcare outcomes by improving on accessibility to quality medical machinery and services to all parts of the country. Again, it is advantageous if medical equipment can be procured locally, cutting down lengthy and exorbitant costs that come with importation and procurement barriers.
Economically, this is an area Ghana can benefit immensely from. By manufacturing more medical devices here in Ghana, the medical device industry shall unequivocally thrive, stimulating local economies and contributing to our GDP Growth.
Opportunities again can be bountiful for export to other countries, which in turn will generate revenue for our country. With such avenues, our apt and young biomedical engineers will have the chance to channel their expertise locally.
How then can Ghana improve and/or encourage more innovators to start manufacturing locally? The government can lead a pathway of creating a safe ecosystem for individuals or even companies to invent and manufacture devices locally by developing and enforcing regulations that govern the different phases of manufacturing from ideation to finished product, empower Ghana’s regulatory bodies and existing frameworks with international standards, such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), again enact laws that enforce intellectual property rights, patents, trademarks and copyrights.
The establishment of more innovation hubs will prove most crucial towards providing spaces for manufacturing facilities, testing laboratories and logistical support within the country. Efforts must also be made to promote the manufacturing of local medical devices and ensuring that our healthcare facilities procure equipment within country rather than importing them.
Now to the crux of the matter: funding. The government of Ghana can establish a fund targeted at the manufacturing of medical devices and equipment (focusing on start-ups especially), and as noted, provide incentives, subsidies and tax breaks to manufacturers, and very importantly, also offer funding for R&D (Research and Development) activities required for manufacturing these local devices in Ghana.
The establishment of some of these strategies and their implementation can position Ghana at an advantageous place within the African medical device market, with our qualified human capital leading the way and exerting their knowledge and technical expertise in the fields of innovation, manufacturing, commercialization of medical devices, etc., and consequently securing a better national healthcare system and promoting Ghana’s economic growth.
Writer: Dufie Boakye.
The writer is a Development Cooperation Advisor with 7+ years’ experience spanning across Gender, Project management, Media & Communications and Social Innovation; currently offering support and engaging with high-level stakeholders in the sphere of biomedical engineering in Ghana. She can be reached at [email protected]
