Summit – 4GBI

Ghana Biomedical Innovation Summit Summary

In December 2022, 4GBI made fact-finding visits and in partnership with Northeastern University, Academic City University College and His Majesty Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, hosted a Bioinnovation Workshop and a Bioinnovation Symposium. The two events attracted a total of over 300 attendees. The workshop and Symposium were open to all interested parties who registered to attend.

In addition to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, the 4GBI Team visited district clinics in the towns of Kyebi, Segimase, Tumfa, Abompe, and Akyem Dwenase.

Ghana Biomedical Innovation Workshop - December 6, 2022:

The Workshop was held at the Kibi Presbyterian College of Education in Kyebi, Ghana. At the Workshop, the 4GBI team met with nurses and midwives that work in rural healthcare clinics and with medical staff that work in District Hospitals in the larger towns of the region. Conversations between healthcare providers and engineers, academics and entrepreneurs created an understanding of the resources currently
available in clinics and hospitals, and what strategies would be most beneficial to improving healthcare delivery in Ghana. Roughly 200 people attended the workshop. Click here to see the Workshop’s agenda .

Most participants pointed out the shortage of basic infrastructural components (such as beds, IV poles, and instruments for assessing vital signs). However, they also spent considerable time expressing their frustrations with equipment that was poorly designed for the heat, dust, and variable electrical supply of rural health clinics in West Africa. These issues dramatically shorten functional lifespan of instruments.

There is essentially no training in maintenance or repair, no availability of relevant expertise and no resources to purchase spare parts. Non-functional equipment rapidly accumulates in equipment graveyards that are present in virtually all African medical facilities. There was general consensus that many of the instruments designed for clean, air-conditioned clinics of Europe or North America were not appropriate to the ambient conditions of clinics in rural Ghana. Afternoon panel discussions were followed by submission of written observations of the most urgent resource needs in rural healthcare clinics and suggestions about how these needs might be addressed by re-design of instrumentation tuned to western medical facilities.

Ghana Biomedical Innovation Symposium - December 8, 2022:

The Symposium was held at the AH Hotel in Accra. Its purpose was to forge partnerships across health/academic/ business/government sectors to work together to improve the delivery of healthcare in Ghana. It was attended by approximately 120 sector leaders. The discussion was focused on the assertion by the 4GBI team that many of the shortcomings of healthcare facilities in Ghana could be mitigated by the creation of a local biomedical device and instrument industry that would design, produce and distribute instrumentation tuned specifically to the needs of West Africa.

To see the Symposium’s agenda, click here

To see a recording of the Symposium, click here

Fact-finding visits:

In addition to the Workshop and Symposium, the 4GBI team toured the Kyebi Hospital and then visited the Chiefs and healthcare clinics of four towns in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Tours of town health clinics were, as required by protocol, preceded by meetings with the Chief of each village, including Segimaase, Abompe, Apedwa, Tumfa and Akyem Dwenase (villages in the Eastern Region of Ghana).

On Friday, the team visited Academic City University and met with the President and Provost, Dr. Fred McBagonluri. Dr. Makowski met with ~ 100 students where he gave a presentation of the opportunities emerging in Biomedical Engineering and carried out a question-and-answer session.

The team visited ‘The MakersPlace’, a STEM training facility that teaches electronics, programming, and robotics to k-12 students to prepare them for university programs. Other activities during the week-long visit included meetings with Dr. Philip Bannor, Registrar of the Ghana Health Facilities Regulatory Agency, and Mr. Carl Ampah, UNESCO.