In September last year local tabloid websites were dominated by a story of an expectant woman who arrived at a hospital in Ruhango District in critical condition only to die along with her baby having failed to see a doctor who was supposed to take care of her. The sad story gave Jean Bosco Mugiraneza sleepless nights thinking about how best patients can be saved to avert a similar incident in the future. Towards the end of 2018, Mugiraneza, 19, a senior six student who is currently undertaking Auto Electricity and Electronics Engine Technology at Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC) Karongi, came up with a prototype he dubbed ‘Security and Service Call Transceiver System’. “My system looks to solve problems that impede our society, mainly in the health sector,” he noted. How it works A simple telephone set with a SIM-card, speaker and a computer make up the prototype. Mugiraneza explained that his prototype is built under call transceiver technology with Global System for Mobile (GSM) that allows users to send and receive verbal communication instantly. “My prototype has a GSM in its nature and speakers which facilitate users to communicate verbally,” noted Mugiraneza. He went on to say that he believes that with the use of his system service delivery in hospitals will be improved, a move he stresses that will primarily benefit patients who reach hospitals in critical condition. “It is designed that a push to talk button will be fixed at every patient bed with some microphones around for a patient or a patient attendant to ask for emergency services from either nurses or doctors,” explained Mugiraneza “When the push-to-talk button is pressed an alert goes to a telephone in service from a hospital that a patient from a given room needs an urgent service without necessarily leaving the room,” he added. Mugiraneza revealed that he spent about Rwf50,000 to design his prototype by saving portion of his pocket money that his parents would give him at the beginning of every school term. “My wish is to scale up; I would like to introduce my system to every hospital, especially those with many patients, to ease service delivery,” he said. He went on to say that, with his innovation he will never face unemployment upon completing his studies stressing that he will instead create jobs for others. “I am eager to provide jobs given that a single person can’t run this system,” he noted, adding that he was also in the process of acquiring the intellectual property rights for his innovation. Mugiraneza, however, said he is still grappling with taking his prototype to the market citing networking among other prime challenges. Prestige award ‘Security and Service Call Transceiver System’, by Mugiraneza, on September 6, 2019 won Best Innovations and Best Practice in Schools awarded by the Ministry of Education. The High Education Council (HEC) particularly rewarded Mugiraneza with a special gift to attend any university of his choice. Speaking to The New Times, Paul Umukunzi, the Deputy Principal of IPRC-Karongi, said the school was looking for ways to assist Mugiraneza improve and market his prototype. He added that IPRC-Karongi always strives to nurture outstanding talents by linking them with investors and respective ministries. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
