Portable X-ray machines were around in the early years of the past century, but a new 21st-century model has updated the technology and mobility that is expected to help with radical improvements in rural health care.
The Japanese company Fujifilm has used its experience and expertise of 80 years in making camera film to develop an X-ray machine that weighs only 3.5kg and can be easily carried in only two bags.
Wessel Visser, the deputy general manager of medical systems at Fujifilm South Africa, says it will “revolutionise diagnostics in rural areas”. The Fujifilm Xair, he says, can be carried to where it is needed, “such as a rural village or an area that has experienced a natural disaster”.
It’s clear that portable machines like Fujifilm’s will be ideal in emergencies where it is difficult or even dangerous to transport patients to traditional radiology clinics. The new mobile and portable digital X-ray machines feature advanced sensors and software that allow them to produce clear and accurate images quickly and easily. Even in hospitals, when space is restricted, portable digital radiography machines would prove useful, especially for patients who can’t be easily moved.
Already Fujifilm Xair is being used in Lesotho to combat tuberculosis and the company has its sights set elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. The company’s business development manager, Lucas van den Bergh, says the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has yet to give it the go-ahead.
Visser says Fujifilm is making full use of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to develop products and services that support digital transformation.
The human element and the principle of radiography, however, remain, says Dr Richard Tuft, executive director of the Radiological Society of South Africa. He says portable X-ray units have been used in South Africa since the beginning of the 20th century, “but not to my knowledge since the 1960s”. Tuft says those early machines were analogue, unlike the digital versions of today, “but the principle of using an X-ray tube to generate the X-rays is unchanged [even though] the modern units now have a digital output”.
Modern technology notwithstanding, Tuft says the human element is still essential. “In South Africa [the new devices] will have to be operated by a radiation worker (a radiologist or a radiographer) and ideally, even if initially assessed by AI, overall responsibility for reports should remain with a radiologist,” he says.
Fujifilm, with its eye on the African market, has established new headquarters in Sandton to coincide with its 10th year in South Africa. The company chose Joburg as the regional head office for Sub-Saharan Africa because the country has the most advanced infrastructure on the subcontinent and is ideally located to support the company’s customers in neighbouring countries.
We believe Fujifilm technology and innovation can address many of the challenges facing health care in Africa
— Wessel Visser
“One of our key focus areas is to grow our medical diagnostic business in Africa. We believe Fujifilm technology and innovation can address many of the challenges facing health care in Africa,” says Visser.
Health care now forms the largest part of the Fujifilm Group with 30%. The rest is made up of materials (25%), business innovation (25%) and imaging (16%). Visser says one of the company’s key areas of focus is to grow the medical diagnostics business in Africa.
Concerning materials, he says the company is working on environmental issues such as resource recycling and responding to climate change by improving industrial efficiency and promoting ICT in society. This includes advanced materials, graphic systems and inkjets, as well as recording media.
“The key to our success is that we always focus on using skills, intellectual property, technologies and experience gained from more than 80 years in the photographic industry.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.