NEW YORK, USA: A total of six biomedical engineering students and two lecturers from Arusha Technical College (ATC) have arrived in the USA for an exchange programme designed to deepen their understanding of medical device design.
According to ATC’s head of communication and marketing unit Mr Gasto Leseiyo, the team left the country on Thursday and will be in the US for of one month.
Under the Arusha Technical College – Cornell Biomedical Engineering Exchange Programme, Mr Leseiyo added that the students and lecturers will have the opportunity to gain insights into the major medical challenges and healthcare infrastructure in northern Tanzania.
Mr Leseiyo mentioned the names of the students who traveled to the USA for the programme: Elias Mapendo, Said Bakari, Edina Rwekaza, Eunice Haule, Bhoke Ngashi, and Rashid Ally Rashid. They will be under the supervision of two members of the ATC academic staff, Dr. Nicodemus Msafirri and Ms Rose Sadiki.
He added that the students will learn how to diagnose and repair problems in malfunctioning medical devices at healthcare facilities in Tanzania, understand common failure modes of such equipment, identify unmet medical needs in the country, and design new devices to meet these needs.
“This programme will establish international student design teams that will work collaboratively on senior design projects. Students from Arusha Technical College (ATC) and Cornell University will deepen their understanding of medical device design through a mutual exchange programme,” he stated.
Elaborating further, the official added the programme is designed to expose learners on various medical equipment technologies and how to repair instruments and collaborating with healthcare providers to identify unmet medical needs that could be addressed with new medical devices.
ATC students will visit Cornell in the fall of 2024 to participate in senior design coursework, with Cornell students serving as hosts for their ATC teammates.
“During this visit, ideas for devices to address identified unmet medical needs will be developed, leading to international, collaborative senior design projects for Cornell and ATC students. The student teams will work together remotely on these projects throughout the rest of the school year, culminating in working prototypes of these designs in their final year of study,” he said.
The College, which was jointly established under the collaboration of Tanzania and Germany in 1978, provides facilities for study and training in engineering and technology development, and such other related disciplines.
