Dr. Esayas Alemayehu and Soloman Woldetsadik asked Matt and I to give an “Appropriate Technologies” presentation to the students and faculty of Jimma University. They wanted us to present the BTB technologies but to focus heavily on the design process. Fifth year engineering students here at Jimma University have a senior design project. But the perception of design here in Ethiopia is very different than what it is at Rice. Biomedical engineering students here feel like they need to be designing fancy, advanced systems such as MRIs. The concept of Global Health Technologies, redesigning/creating medical devices specifically for developing countries, hasn’t really permeated the mindset here yet. Even though Global Health Technologies and engineers that design Global Health Technologies are what Ethiopia needs.
All of the biomedical technicians I’ve talked to in Ethiopia have had the same complaint: they could not fix medical equipment because they lack spare parts. Nearly all medical devices in Ethiopia are donated and used. This means that spare parts are no longer being made or that there are no supply lines. In my humble opinion, the biotech field in Ethiopia will not be sustainable until they either get the supply lines or have bioengineers that design medical devices (or medical device parts) that can be manufactured here. It can be done. Abreham, the head biotech at Jimma Referral (and an undergrad BIOE and Jimma University), was able to fix the main autoclave by designing a metal gasket, which he wasn’t able to get from the manufacturer.
Enough soapbox. Back to the presentation Matt and I gave.
We made a 146 slide powerpoint: 7 presentations, 20 minutes each with 10 minutes of questions. The first presentation was about the overall design process. Matt and I adapted it from a presentation created by Dr. Maria Oden. The presentation focuses on the steps of the design process and explains the importance of the design analysis stage. (If you are a Rice BIOE you know what presentation I’m talking about. It is the one we see three times: in BIOE 252, in Sys Phys, and in Senior Design.) The rest of the presentations were on the BTB technologies and the students’ design process.
The presentation went surprisingly well. About 70 students showed up and stayed for the entire presentation. More students were turned away at the door because of lack of seats. We had a diverse group consisting of biomedical engineers, medical students, electrical engineers, and mechanical engineers. The interest and enthusiasm was truly humbling and inspiring. This was a poorly advertised, 4 hour-long, purely optional lecture given in the middle of finals. Even so we had a full house. After each presentation people had questions and comments. 20 or students came up to me during the mid-break and at the end of the presentation to ask more questions. Students have emailed me asking about more information on the design process and on the BTB technologies.
As a I said before, it can be done. The students have the desire and the thirst for knowledge. With the proper support, I believe the students at Jimma University will change Ethiopian healthcare.