Biomedical instruments: safety, quality control, maintenance, prospects and benefits of African technology.

Biomedical instruments are fundamental to successful medical practice. Medical instruments are devices intended to diagnose, treat, or monitor the patient under medical supervision. Such devices make physical or electrical contact with the patient and/or transfer energy to or from the patient and/or detect such energy transfer to or from the patient. These devices are imported to Africa from developed countries. They are operated in tropical African hospitals where as they were designed for more temperate environment. African countries pay high prices for these devices. The result is that these devices are not available in most African hospitals. Patients have to travel to the major cities to benefit from such devices.These devices must be properly installed in an environment in which they can give accurate and uninterrupted service. Proper operation, regular care and maintenance of these devices are essential. The consequences of breakdown of biomedical instruments include unusable equipment, untreated patients, wrong diagnosis, wrong treatment, frustrated medical staff and overloaded repair shops. The important interwoven issues of safety, quality control and maintenance are discussed. To achieve the millennium development goal of health for all, it is necessary to increase the availability of these devices in Africa. The prospects and benefits of manufacturing and or assembling these devices in Africa are discussed. Can the Engineering Faculties and Industries in Africa meet this challenge? The answer is 'yes'! The design and construction of Bedside Monitor by four Electrical/Electronic Engineering Undergraduates of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria is presented as a case study.