Frugal Medical Technologies and Adaptive Solutions: Field-Based Applications

Ramadurai, Krish W.; Bhatia, Sujata K.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-03285-2_3

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Point-of-care (PoC) devices can offer an inexpensive alternative for laboratory testing with faster results and fewer instructions to operate, making them easier to use with minimum training [27][28][29][30]. Those advantages allow PoC devices to be suitable for environments with limited resources, such as in refugee camps and warzones [31,32]. An example of this is the recent humanitarian crisis as a result of the Syrian war, which has left millions of Syrian citizens displaced without shelter within neighboring countries such as Turkey or within Northern Syria near the Turkey-Syria border.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design and Adoption of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Diagnostic Devices: Syrian Case

et al. 2021

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Civil wars produce immense humanitarian crises, causing millions of individuals to seek refuge in other countries. The rate of disease prevalence has inclined among the refugees, increasing the cost of healthcare. Complex medical conditions and high numbers of patients at healthcare centers overwhelm the healthcare system and delay diagnosis and treatment. Point-of-care (PoC) testing can provide efficient solutions to high equipment cost, late diagnosis, and low accessibility of healthcare services. However, the development of PoC devices in developing countries is challenged by several barriers. Such PoC devices may not be adopted due to prejudices about new technologies and the need for special training to use some of these devices. Here, we investigated the concerns of end users regarding PoC devices by surveying healthcare workers and doctors. The tendency to adopt PoC device changes is based on demographic factors such as work sector, education, and technology experience. The most apparent concern about PoC devices was issues regarding low accuracy, according to the surveyed clinicians.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Adoption of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Diagnostic Devices: Syrian Case

et al. 2021

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“…Naturally, a logical extension could include the provision and integration of mobile and wearable community/individual health monitoring and small/digital sample diagnostic devices, bearing various stakeholder needs in mind (Coert et al, 2021). As they would grow in number, dmcs would exert a 'pull' for the development of an expanding spectrum of simple diagnostic tests and frugal medical instruments (Ramadurai & Bhatia, 2019;Tran & Ravaud, 2016; https://theco nvers ation.com/fruga l-desig n-bring s-medic al-innov ation s-to-commu nitie sthat-lack-resou rces-durin g-the-pande mic-147896). A significant fraction of the tests would involve microbial products and activities, such as reporter systems, recombinant antibodies and antigens.…”

Section: Healthcarementioning

confidence: 99%

Weaponising microbes for peace

Anand

Hallsworth

Timmis

et al. 2023

Microbial Biotechnology

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Microbes can, of course, be weaponised for war (biowarfare) and terrorism (bioterrorism) through the formulation and delivery of natural or designed pathogens. Less well appreciated, however, and meriting much greater attention, is the exceptional range of goods and services they provide (and are capable of providing) via diverse technologies. Importantly, such technologies can be exploited to reduce or eliminate deficits in basic services, and to promote societal harmony and stability. This preordains microbial technologies as mediators of social equity and peace, the subject treated here.

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“…Another solution that may help reduce inequalities in the access to medical devices is to promote their production and commercialization by local companies in LMICs since, in this case, the production and distribution costs can be markedly reduced [7]. Building so-called "frugal" medical devices can also help lower prices [8,9]. In frugal devices, the concept is to produce devices providing the most basic and necessary functions, thus, avoiding the costs corresponding to more complex or sophisticated functionalities that may be helpful for slightly improving the treatment, increasing profitability for the for-profit medical center, or for patient comfort, but are beyond the fundamental medical aim of the device.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Open-Source Hardware May Address the Shortage in Medical Devices for Patients with Low-Income and Chronic Respiratory Diseases in Low-Resource Countries

Farré

Gozal

Nguyen

et al. 2022

JPM

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Respiratory diseases pose an increasing socio-economic burden worldwide given their high prevalence and their elevated morbidity and mortality. Medical devices play an important role in managing acute and chronic respiratory failure, including diagnosis, monitoring, and providing artificial ventilation. Current commercially available respiratory devices are very effective but, given their cost, are unaffordable for most patients in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Herein, we focus on a relatively new design option—the open-source hardware approach—that, if implemented, will contribute to providing low-cost respiratory medical devices for many patients in LMICs, particularly those without full medical insurance coverage. Open source reflects a set of approaches to conceive and distribute the comprehensive technical information required for building devices. The open-source approach enables free and unrestricted use of the know-how to replicate and manufacture the device or modify its design for improvements or adaptation to different clinical settings or personalized treatments. We describe recent examples of open-source devices for diagnosis/monitoring (measuring inspiratory/expiratory pressures or flow and volume in mechanical ventilators) and for therapy (non-invasive ventilators for adults and continuous positive airway pressure support for infants) that enable building simple, low-cost (hence, affordable), and high-performance solutions for patients in LMICs. Finally, we argue that the common practice of approving clinical trials by the local hospital ethics board can be expanded to ensure patient safety by reviewing, inspecting, and approving open hardware for medical application to maximize the innovation and deployment rate of medical technologies.

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Frugal Medical Technologies and Adaptive Solutions: Field-Based Applications

Cited by 5 publications

References 20 publications

Design and Adoption of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Diagnostic Devices: Syrian Case

Design and Adoption of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Diagnostic Devices: Syrian Case

Weaponising microbes for peace

Open-Source Hardware May Address the Shortage in Medical Devices for Patients with Low-Income and Chronic Respiratory Diseases in Low-Resource Countries

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