For those living in developed countries, sometimes we can take certain health care facilities for granted where they are typically stocked with your basic machinery and equipment. However, in more rural parts of the world, accessing such equipment can be near impossible, but it seems that technology has created some innovative solutions.In a story from the New York Times, it details how doctors over in Uganda, Africa, are using their smartphones to double as ultrasound scanners. This is thanks to a device known as the Butterfly iQ that is an ultrasound scanner that has been shrunk down small enough so that it can be portable (fits into a pocket) and can be used together with our smartphones.
This has enabled doctors to perform tests on those living in rural villages across Africa who might not have otherwise been able to access such equipment. The images captured in the ultrasound are then sent back to a specialist in Toronto, Canada, who would then help to double-check the diagnosis.
According to Jonathan Rothberg, the founder of Butterfly which is the company that made the device, “That was my real motivation for making it. Two-thirds of the world’s population gets no imaging at all. When you put something on a chip, the price goes down and you democratize it.”