Cost-reduced engineering of functional biomedical products in Kenya: a case study on electrocautery pens

Abstract

This paper provides details on a case study conducted into the low-cost production of electrocautery pens in Kenya. Kenya's healthcare system is burdened by unaffordable biomedical products, tools and devices. As as consequence, preventable diseases and mortality strain the country. Kenya not only has a poorly equipped health care system, but the country is unable to maintain the imported equipment it has as a result of skills shortages in biomedical engineering in the country. The objective of this paper is to determine the feasibility for manufacturing cheaper biomedical engineering devices in Kenya, with a focus on electrocautery pens. Our method is based on an electro-mechanical design, materials selection, manufacture and testing. While our work is still in-progress, this paper elucidates the feasibility for manufacturing electrocautery devices at low-cost, while acknowledging the challenges in sourcing raw materials within the country.